


The Mind is a Fragile Thing

by letsgetschwifty



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Consensual Underage Sex, Dark, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Family Feels, Incest, M/M, Self-Harm, Smut, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-11-23 19:11:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 17
Words: 29,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11408751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letsgetschwifty/pseuds/letsgetschwifty
Summary: Everything has been building up, Morty is getting to his breaking point, the nightmares are getting too much, he has his whole family and yet he still feels completely alone. When he starts seeing a ghost of his dead grandpa, he doesn't know what to do, Morty feels like he's losing his mind and he wants to get help, he needs the help, will Rick be able to help him? Of course he can, Morty just needs to reach out to him.





	1. Morty's nightmares

The sky was jet black, the only source of light came from the small orbs that floated around the sky, they were similar to a streetlamp, much smaller, round and could think for themselves, except they only came out and turned on when there was a presence around, and at this very moment, there stood a figure, a boy, alone in another world.. Or was he truly? He was holding onto something in his right hand, whilst dragging something using his left, he had to put his back into it because whatever he was dragging was getting heavier by the second. Now that he turned into the light the boys face was clear, fourteen years old, brown hair and eyes, it was Morty Smith. 

 

Held tightly in his right hand was a four inch knife, and in his left hand he’d been gripping onto the ankle of an older man, it was his Grandfather.. And he was unconscious, Morty had been dragging him through the town in which he was now stood still, he let Rick’s leg drop to the floor and the older male groaned, but did not wake up, his head tilted to the side, and the bruise on the side of his temple showed what the cause of his unconscious state could have been down to.. And it had, Morty had knocked him out using a piece of Blagh rock, it had only taken him two hits to get him down and out.

 

During his unconscious state, Morty had tied him up using rope, both his arms were behind his back, Morty had the advantage over him, standing over Rick, his feet on either side of Rick’s chest he cocked his head slowly to the side and watched him for a few moment, leaning himself down he forced the knife through Rick’s chest, aiming directly for his heart, was not going to be the quickest of deaths, but it was where he wanted to hit him, in the place Rick always got him on a daily basis.. Pulling the knife out, blood followed, the male had no way of fighting back, he couldn’t and Morty enjoyed it even more. 

 

The blood was pouring out of the small wound now, turning just as black as the sky had been, and that was when it started to pool around his feet, and with one quick motion he was pulled into the dark abyss that had appeared below him, Rick had gone, the lights had gone out, and all that surrounded him was the darkness, he knew he was still conscious, because he could feel the thickness of the air around him.. And then, he dropped, harder than before, he was falling, falling further and when he tried to scream nothing came out…

 

“No.. n-no, nooo” 

 

Jumping upright in his bed, he grabbed the nearest thing he could, which in this case was his pillow, pulling it right up against him, his eyes just appearing over the top, peering around his still dark bedroom, his heart was racing, and his breathing was erratic… it was the fourth night in a row that he had been awakened by such vivid dreams, he had been having nightmares for as long as he had been going on adventures with Rick in the night, but they had never been so real feeling, they had never been so dark, and he had never been so scared, and he was, he was terrified, he couldn’t help it, and the more he kept it all to himself, the worse it was getting. 

 

And once again the tears formed, he dropped his face into his pillow and muffled his cries, letting his body collapse back down onto the bed he spooned his pillow, his face still buried into it, from this moment until the morning he would be in a broken state of sleep, and the loop would continually bury him in his fear… he was lost, and helpless. 

 

Unfortunately it was another school morning, Friday morning to be exact, which meant he only needed to get today over and done with and he would be able to use the weekend to try and catch up on his sleep, then repeat when Monday comes, he just knew that this wouldn’t be stopping any time soon. 

 

Morty was still spooning his pillow, it had been the only way he could drift off without getting too scared, he just needed to have the feeling that there was someone there with him, even if it was his pillow, he was a little too old to be waking his mother and father up in the night just to join them in bed, the last time he’d done that he had been eight years old and he had been up with a fever, that was fine, but at fourteen years old… it would be a little too much. 

 

Just as the thought left him, there was a soft knock at his door, and Beth opened it just enough to poke her head around the door. 

 

“Morty, time to get up for school, breakfast will be done in ten.” 

 

“O-okay Mom.” 

 

Satisfied she closed the door and Morty slowly dragged himself to the edge of the bed, his pillow fell first and then he dropped his legs over the side, giving himself a moment to prepare himself, all he wanted to do was get under his covers and cry, for some reason he was feeling over emotional today, maybe that was how all teenage boys felt, maybe it was normal, maybe that was an effect of the nightmares, the lack of sleep, either way he wasn’t in the mood for much today, he was going to be on auto-pilot. 

 

It took him less than ten minutes to get himself ready, dressed, washed and teeth cleaned, his bag was ready the night before as usual, in fact he never really took anything out, it was just easier, and since he usually left his homework until the next day he never needed to sort his bag out.. Morty made his way down the stairs, already hearing his family at the breakfast table, the only voice that stood out to him the most was Rick’s, he wasn’t sure exactly what the conversation was about but he felt a tug in his chest, and he had to stop himself halfway down the stairs just to make sure his tears didn’t fall.. It took some strength but he held them back, god he was a mess today, he had now idea how he was going to do it, this nightmare had shook him up, never, ever, had he dreamt something like that, it was usually something to do with those he had already killed, or those he had seen be killed… he’d never killed Rick, was there some hidden meaning behind it? 

 

“Hey champ. Breakfast’s ready.” 

Jerry was just putting something into his bag for work, which was stood just by the front door, Morty had been standing on the stairs staring at the wall, and his father had broken him from his mind's trail of thought. 

 

“Everything okay?” 

 

Jerry seemed to notice the look on Morty’s face was a little off, and he asked genuinely concerned, and once again Morty was trying his damned hardest to fight off the tears that were trying to get out again, he hated whenever he felt like this and someone asked him if he was okay, all because it only made him feel worse, it made him realise the concern from others was genuine and it made him feel guilty for them caring for him like that, he felt like nothing and when he was as low as he felt right now, he didn’t want them caring because it was not worth it.. Managing to keep his emotions in check he continued down the stairs and walked straight past Jerry and headed for the dining room, as he stepped past his father he responded briefly. 

 

“Everythings fine.”

 

When he stepped into the dining room the only eyes that he met were his mother's, Beth had just placed a large plate of pancakes into the centre of the table, and the arrival of her son made her look up and smile lovingly at him. 

 

“Morning sweetie, come get your breakfast. I’ve got your lunch ready for you, it’s on the counter in the kitchen.” 

 

She let him know, he gave her a gentle nod and made his way to his seat next to Rick, who had now gone quiet and was tinkering with some small device on the table, there was no acknowledgement even when Morty pulled out the seat and sat himself down on it, even Summer was engrossed in whatever message she had received, it was normal, and Morty thought nothing of it, he stared at the pancakes in the middle of the table, as good as they looked, he really didn’t want them, nor the bacon, or eggs, or anything, maybe he could force himself to have some toast just to make Beth happy, reaching over he grabbed the toast that Beth had just this moment placed on the table, he then put it on his own plate and stared at it for a moment.. 

 

Jerry had rejoined the table, grabbing his own breakfast, Beth on the other side sitting herself down ready to tuck in, Morty nibbled on the edge of the toast, without even bothering to add any butter to it, he was chewing slowly on the piece he had. 

 

“Summer, put your phone down and eat, Dad, what have I said about gadgets at the breakfast table?”

 

“You said ‘I don’t want you playing with your gadgets at the dinner table’, sweetie. This is the breakfast table.” 

“Oh come on Rick, this is the same table, put it away.” 

 

Jerry had cut in and Rick rolled his eyes before dropping the screwdriver, his eyes and attention was now on Jerry, giving him a glare. 

 

“Jerry? It’s rude cutting into a convor-urp-sation you’re not a part of.” 

 

“You’re whole manner is rude but am I ever allowed to mention that?” 

 

Jerry muttered under his breath this time and Rick stood up, fight mode activating. 

 

“You have something to say Jer-RY? I think you should speak up.” 

 

“Can you both stop, I’m sick of every morning ending up being world war three.” 

 

“Ohhh you’d know if it were..” 

 

Rick said this time glaring harder at Jerry who was glaring just as hard back, as the seconds of silence passed there was a soft bang which came from the device that Rick had been tinkering with, the black fluid that came out of it launched and landed on Morty’s cheek, the rest of it on his piece of toast, and the silence continued for a moment, and Morty stared at the piece of toast the black stuff leaking off it and onto his plate, ruined, not that it bothered him. 

 

“Oh n-oau-w look what you’ve done Jerry.”

 

“Me? I didn’t touch the stupid thing.” 

 

Beth had quickly rushed into the kitchen returning with a wet cloth, she was at Morty’s side in seconds, wiping the black stuff from off of his face, it came off instantly, and Beth smiled at Morty who in turned dropped his head and sniffled, that was it, he couldn’t hold it in any longer, and now it was making it worse that his whole family were present for his little meltdown, the tears rolled down his face and dropped off landing on the tablecloth, his sniffling worsened as he tried to hold it all in, but it was too late, he was crying. 

 

“Oh sweetie, it’s okay, it’s come off, look.”

 

Beth said holding the cloth up, she placed her arm around his shoulder and pulled him close to her, everyone else seemed to be a little shocked at the sudden change, even Summer had dropped her phone slightly to look at her brother. 

 

“Jeeze, Morty, it’s only oil.” 

 

Rick said frowning. 

Shrugging out of Beth’s embrace he rubbed his eyes and made his way back out of the dining room and up the stairs, quicker than he had come down them, he just wanted to be out of the way, he didn’t want to be there, hell he shouldn’t even be there, they were not even his real family, they were the dead Morty’s family who was buried in the back garden, oh god, he felt so alone.

 

Laying face down on his bed, the door opened, and he didn’t move, he felt the bed dip, and a soft hand on his back, he knew straight away it was Beth, she would be the only one to follow him up the stairs after something like that.

 

“Morty? Are you okay?” 

 

“I don’t f-feel too good.” 

 

“Look at me sweetie.” 

 

Beth said gently, Morty turned himself onto his back, his gaze avoiding her, his face was red from the crying, and his cheeks were still wet, reaching forward she pressed the back of her hand to his forehead and she then cupped his cheek, using her thumb to gently rubbed. 

 

“You want to stay home today?” 

 

Morty nodded gently, and she smiled. 

 

“Okay, just stay here, get back into your pajamas. I’ll be back up in a minute.” 

 

Leaving the room she closed the door behind her, Morty’s gaze shifted towards the ceiling, fresh tears were falling freely down his cheeks and down to his neck, wetting the sheets beneath him, he was a mess, and he didn’t know what he could do, he was stuck feeling like this, whatever this was… the longer his eyes lingered on the ceiling, the easier it was for him to calm down, and as he did, his eyes grew heavy, and eventually they closed, he’d drifted off. 

 

 

 


	2. Ghost Rick

Opening his eyes Morty found himself in the same position in which he’d fallen asleep, looking towards the ceiling he noted just how dark the room was, and the disorientation that followed was enough for him to furrow his brows in confusion, turning onto his side he leant over and reached over to his side table and pulled the clock around to face him, it was seven o’clock at night.. Had he been in bed all day? Had he really gone all day without being disturbed by even Rick? And thinking about it that bit more, he couldn’t even remember dreaming.. That was possibly just him making up for the nights that he had completely missed out on a decent night's sleep. 

 

Sitting himself back up he found what little motivation he could muster up and pushing himself off the bed a thought crossed his mind, one that was probably not the wisest, but it would help him, or so he thought anyway… just as he reached his door he grabbed the handle and was about to open it.

 

“Don’t even think about it, Morty.” 

 

Morty’s brows furrowed and he dropped his hand off the handle, and slowly turned towards the recognizable voice, his eyes widened when they landed on Rick who was laying down on Morty’s bed, his hands propping his head up and his legs cross over one another, his feet tapping to a tune only he could hear.. Dropping against the door Morty slid down and landed pretty hard on his ass, still in a bit of shock, the only reason being was that Rick was not exactly all there… … … (everyone knew that) except, this was literal, he was not whole, Morty could see right through Rick’s body to the bed underneath him.. And that caused him to rub his eyes, hell… he had thought he’d had the best sleep ever, but in reality he hadn’t woke up, and now this was the nightmare biting him in the ass, he knew it was too good to be true.

 

“Nah nah, Morty, I’m real, well as real as you could consider me. You’re not dreaming.” 

 

“H-how d-d--do you know what I’m thinking about?”

 

The transparent Rick was now sitting up on the bed looking directly at Morty, who was still pressed as close to the door as he could possibly get. 

 

“I’m from your mind, so I know what’s going through it. And drinking yourself stupid is not going to make you feel any better Morty, in fact it’s going to make you feel worse, sure, Morty, it will make you feel good for as long as you’re passed out, but the after effects.. You’re fourteen, you’re not exactly built to withstand the amount you want to drink.” 

 

“What are you talking about? From my mind? Have you been drinking? W-wait, how m-much have I had already? It’s one of those nightmares again, I’m going to s-start k-k-killing you aren’t I? Oh Jeeze.”

 

“You’re not dreaming Morty, this is real.. When you was a baby, Rick, the real Rick built me into you.. think of a computer software with an antivirus, your brain is the computer and I’m your antivirus, when the chemicals in your brain started to go out of whack causing your stress and depression to the point where you’re nothing more than an emotional wreck, I was activated..” 

 

“Bit egotistical to use himself as the image.” 

 

Morty had relaxed slightly, and was not resting against the door instead of trying to lose himself within the wood. 

 

“Rick didn’t use an image of himself, I’m the result of whatever comforts you the most, your grandpa is the result, the reason I’m, well… a ghost, is because, I’m the Rick that’s buried in the garden, that’s because of your guilt. Does that explain it?” 

 

“Well. No. Why would Rick even..?”

 

“Because he’s protecting you from yourself, the only way you’re going to be able to get rid of me, is if you go to Rick and tell him, he can reset the program and help you through it, you doing it alone is not going to help you Morty.”

 

“I’m just dreaming again, I know it.” 

 

Reaching up Morty grabbed the door handle and pulled himself to his feet, turning around he opened up the door and then stepped out, and was in the hallway, well, now that he knew he was dreaming the only thing he could do was avoid anything and anyone resembling Rick, maybe because he knew this time around that it was a dream he could avoid hurting and even killing Rick. 

 

Making his way down the stairs he stopped when he saw Ghost Rick standing at the bottom, waiting for him, he gave him a scowl and then carried on, ignoring him the best he could he made his way to the living room where Beth was laying down, her feet up on Jerry’s lap as they watched the TV, they didn’t hear him going past, so they were either both napping or they were just that engrossed in whatever rubbish show they were watching. 

 

“Morty, I wouldn’t do it.. Morty, you’re not dreaming.” 

 

“Yeaah, R-rick, I am, and any minute I’m going to turn psycho again and kill you, I don’t w-want to keep going through it, I c-can’t.”

 

“Morty, you’re delusional.” 

 

Ghost Rick grabbed onto Morty’s wrist as he reached the garage door, Morty glanced down at the contact and frowned.

 

“If this were real, you wouldn’t be able to touch me, y-you’re a ghost Rick, now leave me alone.” 

 

That was about enough as what Ghost Rick could take, he used his one hand to clamp down on Morty’s mouth, pulling the boy hard against him Ghost Rick took Morty back up the stairs, luckily avoiding Beth and Jerry on the way up, they wouldn’t be able to see him, but they would see Morty, and he would not exactly look right.. Upon reaching Morty’s bedroom he shut the door as quietly as he could and moved them both over to the bed, removing his hand from off his mouth he pushed him down onto the bed. 

 

“Hey! The hell do you think you’re doing Rick? I could kill you.” 

 

He said holding out his hand..    
  


“Any minute now a knife will appear and I will stab you, straight in the heart, I will leave you to bleed out and it will feel good, and I’m not going to stop, Rick, I w-w-will want to do it again and again and again…”

 

Before Morty’s rant could continue, Ghost Rick grabbed the clock from off the side counter and slammed it hard across Morty’s head, the boy immediately fell, forward and Ghost Rick had to grab him before he dropped off the bed and onto the floor, he’d already caused his head some damage he didn’t want him falling and breaking his neck.. Pushing him back up he lay him down and pushed the pillow under his head. 

 

“You’re messed up kid, sleep it off.” 

 

Ghost Rick said to the unconscious boy, this was where he’d wished that the real Rick had built him so that he could contact him in some way and get Morty the help he desperately needed, the boy was suffering and all he could do was try and get him to speak to his grandpa, he was just as pathetic, as he pulled the quilt up over Morty’s body, he glanced towards his own hands, he was becoming more transparent, he could only exist as long as Morty was conscious and awake. 

 

“Sleep well Morty, see you in the morning.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking around. (:


	3. Blagh Rock

“Morty, you gotta wake up, Morty, hurry.”

 

It had been a while since Rick had burst through Morty’s bedroom door, and nearly taking it off the hinges... the loud boom of the door was the first thing that woke Morty up, so when Rick was telling him he needed to wake up, there was really no point, rubbing the sleep from his eyes he stared at the figure that was closing in on him, grabbing onto Morty’s arm he dragged him out of bed before he could even have a chance to react and pulled him through a portal, not that he ever really did have a chance to react to anything Rick threw at him, one thing though, he was at least dressed in clothes and not his pajamas, which by now, he realised he’d been wearing for the most part of the weekend.

 

Stepping out on the other side of the portal, Morty was very close to turning himself back around and hiding under his covers, hell maybe he could hide in another Universe all together, but unfortunately for him the portal had closed itself behind them and Morty was digging around in the dirt, trying to claw his way back out, was this some kind of sick joke? Was his mind trying to ruin him? This place Rick had taken them both was exactly the same as his dream, the one where he stabbed him through the chest…

 

“Rick, where’s the portal, I n-need to go home, right now, p-please.”

 

“Morty stop being a baby, we’ve got a-loooooot to pick up, this pla-urrp- place has a very high concentration of Blagh rock, which… I need for something very.. uurrp.”

 

Turning on his heel Rick looked towards Morty who was sitting on the floor his eyes were wide and he seemed to be in some sort of trance, stepping closer to the boy he crouched down just in front of him.

 

“Morty? Was this because of the oil? Shit, if it is, I didn’t mean it, that was Jerry’s fault.”

 

“This isn’t about the fucking oil Rick.”

 

Clamping his hand over his mouth he pushed himself up to his feet and turned away from Rick, this was it, his dream was becoming a reality, he’d dreamt about what he was going to end up doing.. And now his anger was flaring up, maybe it was like some kind of deja vu, or even worse, what if there was a version of himself that he’d watch kill his own Rick? What if what had happened to that other Morty was going to happen to him because there was some kind of disease that was going around infecting Morty’s? What if he was going to do the same because he was infected with it..

 

“If you’re gonna be a piece of shit about it Morty, then I’m certainly keeping you --uurrp… here, let you suffer.”

 

Standing back up Rick turned and started to walk away, and Morty jumped as an orb flew right past him and straight into the sky in the direction Rick was heading, two orbs remained just above Morty’s head, keeping that little section illuminated, the further away Rick was walking from him, the further and further the light went, glancing around the dark surroundings, he could only see as far as the light would touch, and from what he could see there were purple leaves surrounding him, and the feeling that was washing over him was eerie, it was like he was being watched, pushing up to his feet he rushed after Rick catching up with him, he slowed to a walk by his side and Rick had pulled out a small device from with his inside pocket, he passed it over to Morty who took it without saying a word and then Rick pointed at the small blue button on the side of it.

 

“Press the button when I say, but make sure it’s on the floor, then do everything I say.”

 

Morty nodded towards his Grandpa, his eyes lingered on him for a moment as the older male pulled out a flask from his other inside pocket, taking off the cap he lifted it to his lips and took a few rather large gulps, and Morty didn’t realise it but he was licking his lips, if only he was that flask.

 

Wait.. what?

 

Morty glanced away from Rick and his brow furrowed at himself, no, he wished he had the flask, not that he was the flask, the fuck was that? Where the hell did that come from? If he was diseased with something he hoped it would swallow him up into the dark abyss just like his dream, his mind was already messed up and now he was getting even weird thoughts, Rick had been saying something for the past minute he had turned away, he couldn’t make out exactly what it was he was saying but he knew he was aware… That was the first time ever, that he’d had such a strange thought towards Rick, although he had to admit, anything was better than the thoughts of killing him.

 

“Fucksake Morty I said press the damn button.”

 

Morty nearly dropped the device when Rick shouted out to him, he managed to catch it just as he dropped it and glanced over to Rick, giving him a nod, he placed the device onto the floor and he then pressed the button, as soon as he pressed it, the device opened up, and with it, there was some kind of black hole opening up.

 

“You might want to step back, Morty.”

 

He didn’t need to be told that twice, Morty stepped away from the ever growing black hole, Rick had already done so and was standing far away from it, before the suction of the black hole got too great Rick threw something in Morty’s direction, and it landed at his feet.

  
“Attach it to the uuurrpp-- tree, Morty, and hold tight.”

 

Grabbing it he turned searching the area for a tree, the orbs light touched one luckily just behind him, as soon as he reached the tree, he looked down at what Rick had thrown to him, it looked like a rope made of metal, and so pressing the button in the middle it reacted, one end wrapped around the tree, the other wrapped around Morty’s wrist, anchoring him to the tree, and just in time too, the black hole was at it’s strongest, pulling both him and Rick off the floor, sucking them towards it, the rope keeping them in place… the size of the rocks that were flying towards and into the black hole were ranging from small, to very large boulders, and the amounts, there was a very large amount of them going in, along with a few other bits of debris that had not been held down.. as to where it was all going he had no idea, and he wouldn’t even try to guess, Rick knows what he’s doing, and he was once again along for the ride.

 

The timer was counting down on the device, and the rocks themselves seemed to be slowing down, so Morty guessed that it was going to be closing, Rick always chose danger, and it was dangerous, but at the same time it was clever… as soon as the timer ran out, the device closed up and the black hole disappeared, Morty and Rick dropped to the floor and the ropes unlocked at the slack.. And both the ropes shrank, Morty picked his up and took it with him as he walked over to where the device lay on the ground, he met Rick there, who picked it up and stuffed it into his pocket, Morty cocked his head out of curiosity and Rick patted his pocket.

 

“It’s like a fun size garage, Morty, all the rocks are in there, Morty and they are all mine.”

 

Walking away from Morty, he caught him saying something about being rich, and he couldn’t help but shake his head, following after him..

 

“H-how did you create a black hole?”

 

“That wasn’t a black hole Morty, I just increased the gravity flow within the dev-device, do they not teach you about black holes in science? They don’t suck Morty.. They only s--uurrrpp-suck in the sense they are no use to me.”  

 

Pulling out both his flask and the portal device he gulped down more of the liquid within and opened up a portal at the same time, stepping through it, he had disappeared, and for that moment Morty was alone.. Maybe he had been over reacting, Rick was still alive, Morty hadn’t been taken over by the disease that was taking over Morty’s, and this place would go forgotten… he gave a gentle smile, and stepped through the portal, as soon as the portal closed, the orbs turned off and the place was engulfed in the darkness. 


	4. Rick's Chair

“Okay, you can go do whatever you was doing.. Sleeping wasn’t it? Uurrpp-- maybe you can make it to school on Monday morning, or not, I might have something else planned for us..”

 

Morty frowned and shook his head, he was pleased that the nights adventure hadn’t turned into some kind of bloodbath, but at the same time he’d have preferred to have stayed asleep because now it just meant that he would have to spoon his damn pillow to actually try and get himself some sleep… lucky it was Sunday, grabbing the handle he was about to leave, and Rick stopped him with a quick..

 

“Wait.. put this in the box labelled ‘Gold Mine’.”

 

Morty’s face dropped and he turned to looked towards Rick, he only got his back, since he was engrossed in something else, although he was still standing holding the device out behind him ready for Morty to take off him.. Morty wasn’t really feeling up for getting into a full blown argument over how they’d just done all of that, for the device to be placed in some silly little box which anyone could easily take, not that they would even know what was within, but that wasn’t the point, they’d done all that for nearly no reason, was it really worth it?

 

Sighing he made his way over, closing the distance, he took the device from off Rick, and made his way straight for the box… he dropped it inside and his eyes were caught by something on the shelf just above it, an unopened bottle of scotch.. Strange that it was unopened, but that thought was only in his head for a moment, what came next caused him to glance back at Rick who was still distracted at his workbench, reaching for it on his tiptoes, he pulled it off the shelf making as little noise as he possibly could and slipped it under his shirt, the cold of the glass caused him to catch his breath.

 

Using his arm he held the bottle in it’s place, he used his free hand to open the door and leave Rick’s presence, the house was in darkness, everyone else were obviously asleep, and Morty was once again feeling alone… he hated it, but now that he’d got something he could try and use to drown all that away, maybe things would get easier, maybe he could forget about the nightmares, and the reality of his life…

  


Morty was back in his bedroom now, sitting in the middle of his bed the bottle of scotch between his legs, he was staring at it as if it was going to start talking to him, and from the way he had been feeling recently he wouldn’t really be surprised.. Using most his strength he opened the cap and dropped it onto the bed, the scent of the scotch rose up his nostrils, and it was the most familiar smell, it made him feel warm for a moment, and as he picked up the bottle he took it to his lips, the scent getting stronger.. As he took a rather large mouth full he shuddered as the taste hit him, it hit the back of his throat and just as he swallowed it, he spluttered on it, coughing hard as the liquid burned all the way down, and as soon as it did, it warmed up but he still couldn’t help the shivers that were running through him.. How the hell did Rick drink this stuff? And actually enjoy it, his face was still scrunched up as he took the bottle to his lips again for round two, just as the liquid touched his tongue a voice caught him off guard.

 

“You shouldn’t be drinking that.”

 

This time the bottle dropped from his hands, and he had to catch it before it started leaking all over his bed, grabbing the bottle he lifted it back up and his eyes were on the male on the other side of his bedroom leaning against his desk.

 

Ghost Rick. What? He’d only taken one sip.. Hadn’t he? Glancing down towards the bottle he had to make sure that he’d not picked up some kind of concoction that Rick had put together, and he was going to start hallucinating for the rest of his life.. Grabbing the cap he replaced it and let the bottle drop onto the bed, that was going to be enough of that.. His eyes peered over to the clock, which read four in the morning..

 

“You’re not drunk, and you’re certainly not asleep.”

 

“I’ve g-g-got to be.”

 

“Trust me you’re not, Morty.”

 

Ghost Rick pushed himself away from the desk and stepped over to the bed, he sat himself down next to Morty who was still following him with wide eyes, he was fine with him being in his dreams because he knew that it was just that, he knew that he would wake up and he would be gone, but this wasn’t right, was he actually losing his mind? Pressing the palm of his hand to his temple he pressed, and then winced… the pain that shot through him, the lump on his head...

 

“I had to shut you up, you went a little crazy Morty.”

 

“You hit me?”

 

“I did more damage to the clock..”

 

Ghost Rick said with a chuckle, he didn’t get a reaction from Morty, who was still sat poking the lump on his head and wincing every time he did it, Ghost Rick grabbed the boys wrist and held it where it was.. And that was enough to freak him out, Morty froze for a second, before he snatched his wrist away from Ghost Rick, jumping off the bed the bottle of scotch followed the boys drip and rolled off the bed, Morty’s heart dropped, and Ghost Rick reacted quickly enough to catch it before it hit the floor.

 

“Morty, you need to stop.”

 

“Rick.. uh.. Ghost Rick, look whatever the hell you are.. Y-you’re not real, you’re a figment of my imagination, I’m obviously passed out from drinking t-too much scotch.. I’ll wake up in the morning and you’ll be gone.”

 

“Believe whatever you want to Morty, but I am what I am, and I’m here because you need me to be, and I’m not going to let you drink, or do anything to drown it all away, it’s not what you should be doing.”

 

“Wait did you really mean that when you said it.. Y-you’re in my head?”

 

“You’re favourite place to masturbate is on Rick’s chair in the garage.”

 

Ghost Rick blurted out as solid proof, and Morty’s eyes widened, his face seemed to pale before the blood rushed back into it and then his brows knitted together, his pulse started racing and he was at a loss for words...

 

“T-t-that’s o-only because it’s out o-of the way.”

 

“Sure. I’m not here to judge. You need to sleep.”

 

“I can’t.”

 

Morty said looking at the floor.

 

“I know you can’t, just get changed and get in bed.”

 

Morty was flushing all shades once again and Ghost Rick rolled his eyes, shaking his head, he first leant forward and placed the scotch on the side table and then he turned himself around on the bed and covered his eyes, which Morty could actually see him doing through the ghosts own body, so as quickly as possible he grabbed his pajamas, stripped his clothes off and switched them for his bed clothes, normally he wouldn’t have really been bothered, especially since he’d been naked in front of Rick before, but since this Ghost Rick had just shared something so personal, it made him feel slightly weird, like Morty was perverted or something..

 

“O-okay I’m done.”

 

Turning back, Ghost Rick stood up from the bed and grabbed the bed sheets, he tugged them down and flipped the pillow over, he then stepped to the side and gestured for Morty to get in, at first Morty gave him an uneasy stare, he then stepped forward and slipped into his bed.

 

“Face the wall Morty.”

 

It was a strange order, but he did as he was told and was now facing the wall, he felt the bed dipping behind him, and then he felt Ghost Rick pulling Morty against his body, he then pulled the covers over them both.

 

“Relax Morty, I might not be real, but I’m better than a pillow, I know you’re thinking it.”

 

“This is a bit weird..”

 

“It’s only weird if you keep thinking about being Rick’s flask.”

 

Did he have to keep saying stuff like that?

 

Morty moved slightly, a little uncomfortable at first, he didn’t really know where to put his hands, so when he went to put one on Ghost Rick’s arm to comfort himself he stopped, were there boundaries with this kind of thing? Would this be considered crazy if he ever told Rick that he fell asleep in the arms of a Ghost who was in fact exactly like Rick… well, not exactly, he didn’t have his mannerisms, and he didn’t stink of alcohol, strangely enough, he missed it.

 

“Just do it Morty, do whatever helps.”

 

Morty nodded his head and held onto Ghost Rick’s arm, his other arm resting just underneath himself, closing his eyes he felt himself relaxing more and more, and it was actually a really good feeling, the best he’d had in a long time, and Ghost Rick was right, he really did think this was better than his pillow.

 

“Will y-you be here when I wake up?”

 

“I exist as long as you’re awake Morty, so yes, when you wake up I’ll come back.”


	5. Lazy Sunday

Morty had been able to sleep without a nightmare, in fact he didn’t even dream of anything, and he wouldn’t complain because it was better than what had been going through his head, Morty was slipping out of his state of sleep slowly, and it was such an incredible feeling, so much better than being ripped out only to find himself in a pool of his own sweat.. his eyes opened and the first thing that he was aware of was no Ghost Rick, his arms weren’t there, and so to confirm he turned himself onto his back and his arm lazily dropped to the empty space beside him, he’d slept alone.

 

Morty was yet to become fully aware, because turning over and checking beside him he had not noticed his mother sitting down on the edge of his bed, and he did have a fleeting thought that he was still asleep, hell, he had no idea these days if he was awake or if he was in fact still asleep.. It was possible that all of this was a dream and every time he woke up it just threw him further and further into it, and the loop was never going to end, maybe he was in a coma again.. That was a point he could try and find Scary Terry, he could help him out of this mess.

 

“How you feeling?” 

 

Beth had stood and moved herself further down the bed so that she could sit next to Morty, who was now pushing his pillow upright so that he could sit up and see her, she nudged him gently with her arm and he moved up a little closer to the wall than he had already been, she pulled up the covers and got under them.. She may have been another Morty’s mother, but she smelt, sounded and acted just the same as his own mother, and the thought of it made his heart drop, he could only imagine what it was his mother was going through, and he would easily admit that he missed her so much.. When Beth put her arm over his shoulder, pulling him closer to her, he let himself relax into her side, his eyes closing as the motion happened, he felt comfortable, it had been a while since he’d been this close to her, it was nice. 

 

“I feel a little better.” 

 

“You slept right through, you needed it didn’t you?” 

 

Morty nodded his head gently, if she hadn’t have been looking at him it would have almost gone unnoticed, she pressed the back of her other hand to his forehead once again. 

 

“It did help.”

 

Beth’s attention had turned to the bottle of scotch that was still on Morty’s table, she frowned and cocked her head. 

 

“Rick must’ve left it.” 

 

Morty said before she could assume anything, and since it seemed to be a pretty legit reasoning for it to be there, she just shrugged her shoulders without pressing the matter, Morty knew that he had enough trust with Beth to know that he wouldn’t drink it, of course, that was a lie, but it meant she wouldn’t even need to move it from the table and go and question Rick, he’d just come and move it when he found out he’d left it behind, or so she thought he would.

 

“Well how about you come downstairs today? You can have the couch to yourself, and if you need anything, I’ll get it for you, Sunday’s are for resting.”

 

“Sounds good Mom.” 

 

“Bring your pillow sweetie.” 

 

Beth told him, she gave him a kiss on his head and then got herself out of the bed, grabbing Morty’s quilt she folded it up enough for her to carry it, she nodded for the door and Morty smiled in return, grabbing his pillow he headed for the door, opening it up for Beth who carried the quilt out of the door, they both headed down the stairs and Morty headed straight for the couch, he placed his pillow down at one end and sat just next to it, Beth placed the quilt next to him. 

 

Jerry was sitting on the chair, his eyes were already glued to the TV, some weird programme was on and Morty had already lost interest, Jerry hadn’t said anything, and Morty was kind of pleased, he couldn’t be bothered to keep explaining himself, especially with how he was feeling, because if he was honest, he’d gone from feeling safe and secure during the night to feeling helpless and alone again, he was pathetic, he didn’t know what was wrong with him but if none of this had been a dream, he’d been seeing Ghost Rick.. the only other thing, he was losing his mind, Rick could have done something to him, and this was the result, like some form of experimentation, Rick wouldn’t have anything to worry about if anything did happen to Morty, he could just get himself a new one.

 

The thought made his eyes burn, that was how unimportant he was, anything that went wrong with him Rick just needed to say so, and boom, he’d be replaced by another working Morty, oh god, is that why Ghost Rick had told him he needed to tell Rick about his nightmares, about his emotional state, because if he didn’t that would mean Rick would lose his opportunity to change him? Was this all to get him exchanged? 

 

The deeper his mind went into it, the harder the tears were to fight back, dropping sideways onto the pillow he placed both his hands under his cheek, his eyes were fixed onto the tv screen, he wasn’t watching it, he was just letting his mind wander further and further. 

  
  


And that was how his Sunday continued, at some point he found himself watching some show about an american teenager who liked to eat snakes feet, it taught him how to capture the snakes, how to skin them and how to successfully chop off their legs without leaving any of the good stuff behind, sure, that would never be useful to Morty since he’d probably never go to that dimension, in fact he’d probably never go to another place again if Rick caught him out… now, now he was just paranoid.

 

Beth had made them all some food, Morty had eaten what he could at the dinner table and returned to the couch, Rick had been missing for most of the day so it had only been the four of them, Rick was probably up to no good, Summer had checked the garage and he wasn’t there, Beth’s first thought was that he’d ran off again, until Jerry reminded her that he wouldn’t go far without some of the shit that had been hoarded in the garage, at least she could find some relief in that, then again, deep down she knew if Rick was desperate enough, he’d leave it, he’d left her before, a few items that he could recreate would mean nothing. 

 

It was now Summer’s turn to watch something, she’d put some rubbish reality show on that she was too into, Morty didn’t really care, it was a distraction from his mind at least, he was just pleased he wasn’t seeing things again, he was in no mood for Ghost Rick.. in fact, he was in no mood for anyone, and unfortunately he would have to face school tomorrow.

  
He really wished he could be swallowed up and forgotten about, the 'black hole' would have been perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *TRIGGER WARNING* 
> 
> The next chapter has detailed descriptions of self harm and blood.


	6. Just a Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *TRIGGER WARNING*
> 
> Self harm, blood.

“Morty, I’ve got the bath running for you, should be done anytime now.” 

 

Beth told him, pushing himself up off the couch Morty left the room, giving her a thanks before he vanished off up the stairs and into the bathroom where he locked the door.. He had to admit he was more tired after spending an entire Saturday sleeping, and nearly a whole Sunday lazing around doing nothing, and now the steam from the hot bath was not exactly helping him, it just didn’t going right either way, he was either too tired and unable to sleep, or he was full of sleep and feeling tired still, was he just constantly suffering with tiredness that would never go away? Palming his temples with both hands he winced almost immediately when he pressed hard on the bruise, his mind went back to Ghost Rick, and he sneered at the bath tub, as if it was it’s fault. 

 

Letting his clothes drop to the floor he got into the still running bath and dropped down, sitting comfortably in the middle, he pulled his knees up to his chin and hugged them, watching the water flow into the tub, and when it was full enough he leant forwards and turned off the taps, and then he froze, his gaze landing on something… 

 

A razor. 

 

If this was a dream maybe he could test it out? Sure he could feel the bruise on his head, but that was planted there, as part of the dream, or whatever this was.. If he inflicted it on himself, he could tell the difference? He could figure it out? He didn’t trust his own theory but it didn’t stop him from grabbing the razor and using the end of a shampoo bottle he smashed it hard on the plastic razor… maybe his blood would turn black and pool into one spot in the water, maybe he wouldn’t bleed at all…

 

There should be no pain.

 

The blade of the razor was now between his fingers, and he felt his heartbeat quicken, and he turned so that he was sideways in the middle of the bath, his legs were crossed and his attention was on what he planned to do, placing his left arm onto the side of the bath, his wrist up, he examined his arm, and just as he was about to take action, a transparent hand gently grabbed his wrist. 

 

Morty didn’t know what it was that flickered through him, anger, annoyance, relief? Whatever it was he dropped the blade into the water and his gaze met Ghost Rick’s who was kneeling at the side of the bathtub, his eyes were not moving from his and neither did his hand, which was still holding onto him. 

 

“No Morty.” 

 

Morty frowned and followed up with a sneer in Ghost Rick’s direction, he snatched his wrist away from his grasp and then shifted his gaze to the water below, searching for the blade, his mood was affected enough for him not to care that Ghost Rick was watching him in the bath, completely naked, he just didn’t have the energy to care. 

 

“Go away.” 

 

“I’m not going anywhere Morty, you need to talk to Rick, right now.” 

 

“The fuck do you care? H-huh? You said you would be here in the morning, you said you exist when I’m awake. Where the hell have you been existing ‘cause I’ve not seen you.”

 

“Morty, I didn’t lie to you about that, I do exist when you’re awake, I don’t exist when there are people around you. You don’t need me to, because nothing could happen when there are people around you. Morty, I should have made that clear.” 

 

Finding the blade Morty picked it back up and returned back to his position, ignoring Ghost Rick. 

 

“Morty, don’t make me hold you down.” 

 

“Just, let me do this, I need to do this, I need to see, if I don’t see then how the hell am I supposed to know what is r-real and what is not? I’m losing touch with reality.” 

 

“Harming yourself is not going to bring you the truth, dream or no dream you’re not going to find the answers you’re looking for.. Morty, just think about it, if you were dreaming would I really be talking you out of it? No, you’d have gotten rid of me already. Give me the blade Morty.” 

 

Ghost Rick held his hand out to Morty, trying to keep eye contact with the boy, this was where Ghost Rick was going to take it off him, and then Morty would have to go to Rick, and Rick would have to exchange him.

 

“You need help Morty, please.” 

 

Standing up in the tub Morty stepped back until he was pressed against the cold tiles, the water dripped off his body and Ghost Rick stood up, meeting Morty’s height, their eyes were still locked and Ghost Rick still held out his hand. 

 

“I know you want the help, I can hear you crying out for it, Morty, you can have that, you can have the help you need, you don’t need to suffer, it will only get worse, Morty.” 

 

“S-s-shut… up.” 

 

Ghost Rick was less concerned now that Morty was standing up, because he already knew that the thoughts of harming himself were ceasing to exist, he just knew now that Morty was more angry, not with him, but with himself, angry that he’d gotten himself into such a state, Morty was still holding the blade in between his fingertips, facing it away from himself he pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes, taking in a few breaths, calm.. He needed calm, right now he wasn’t feeling calm, he was confused, he was pissed off, and underneath it all he was terrified. 

 

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Morty it’s okay.”

 

“I SAID… SHUT UP.”

 

Bringing both arms down in a long hard swiping motion he smashed his fists into the tiles behind him, the pain that shot through his wrists was enough to stop him from continuing, pulling them back away from the wall he looked towards them, taking note first that he’d lost the blade, and that the bathtub was crimson red… First his eyes landed on his hands, trying to find the source, the pain had felt like it would have been enough to cause a bleed, but there was nothing there… The feeling of dizziness that hit him like a tonne of bricks was enough to cause his head to droop, that was when he felt Ghost Rick putting a lot of pressure onto his inner thigh.. Morty didn’t know it, but when he’d smashed his fists into the wall, he’d passed by his leg and the blade had sliced clean through, and just his luck he’d gone straight through the femoral artery. 

 

Everything seemed to be slowing down around him, the dizziness had gone and was being replaced with a strange feeling of floating, it was very strange, but very comforting, he wouldn’t know it, but it was the shock kicking in, there was so much blood gushing out of the wound, his body couldn’t react quickly enough. 

 

Ghost Rick had simultaneously grabbed a hand towel and caught Morty before he dropped into the bath, the worst thing he could be doing was moving him, but he had to, he couldn’t exactly let him lay down in the bath, he’d drown in his own blood.. Which was now, everywhere, the bath was filled, the walls had some on them, the floor now had a pool of it, and it was growing, no matter how much pressure he applied the bleeding wouldn’t stop, it was too deep.. Ghost Rick was on his knees, Morty lay with his head on Ghost Rick’s lap, whilst he leant himself over him to hold the hand towel. 

  
“Hey, hey, Morty, don’t fall asleep.” 

 

Morty used what strength he still had to lift his head up, to look at what was happening, he couldn’t understand how he’d gone from standing up, to laying down on the floor, wet, naked and covered in his own blood… 

 

“Come on Morty, I can’t keep you alive if you’re unconscious, you know that.. Hey, Morty, remember the show you watched today? About the snakes? I know how much you’d like to try them.. You can’t do that if you fall asleep..” 

 

Morty’s eyes were opening and closing every so often, the transition had been quick for Ghost Rick, all of it happening in one motion, for Morty, all of it was still in slow motion, was this what it felt like to be drunk, if it were he didn’t fancy it, he liked the floating, that was good, but the shaking, and the sickly feeling, that was not nice, maybe it would pass everything else did… but at least he knew one thing.. 

 

Looking up he found Ghost Rick, and he gave him a gentle smile, reaching up he placed his hand onto his cheek, covering the transparent man’s cheek in blood.. Ghost Rick met Morty’s eyes, and Morty could see the build up of tears in the older man’s eyes.. Was he crying? 

 

“It doesn’t… hurt, Rick.. it’s all just a dream, e-everything will be okay.. It’s just a dream.” 

 

“Morty, if you say so Morty, it’s a dream.. Just don’t give up on it, fight it, fight against it, you’re not going to wake up from this dream…” 

 

As soon as he’d said it, Morty’s hand dropped from Ghost Rick’s face and landed with a gentle splash in the blood next to him, Ghost Rick’s eyes widened and the panic was clear, pressing firmer onto the towel the tears dropped from his eyes and landed on the boys forehead. 

 

“Morty.. Morty wake up.. I can’t.. I can’t…” 

 

Ghost Rick was losing his ability to apply pressure. 

 

“I CAN’T LOSE ANOTHER ONE..” 

 

As soon as his words left his mouth, he vanished, leaving Morty alone and bleeding out on the bathroom floor.   


	7. Your Rick

“Morty?”

 

“Y-yeah Rick?” 

 

“I’m sorry Morty.” 

 

“What are you sorry for?”   
  


“I had a second chance to save you Morty and I failed.”

 

It felt like he was floating, and Rick sounded like he was far away, he couldn’t see him because his eyes were still tightly shut, and he guessed it was dark since there was little to no light coming through his eyelids. There was a strange feeling of comfort, and for a few seconds he had forgot what Rick had just said to him, all he was concentrating on was the bliss that his being was feeling.. He couldn’t say body because weirdly enough he couldn’t feel it, it was like he was just a consciousness in the void that had been created in his nightmares.. 

 

“Morty? Look at me Morty.” 

 

Rick’s voice was strangely soft, almost loving, so he did as he was told, now he could see Rick, he was standing at the end of the dark tunnel, his hand was held out, and he had a warm smile on his face, and Morty smiled in return, stepping forwards he reached out and took Rick’s hand. 

 

“I wanted to at least save you, I wanted to make up for what happened, Morty, I never meant to leave you. And I certainly never meant for you to die.” 

 

“Die? W-w-what are you t-talking about?” 

 

Rick knelt on one knee so that he was about the same height as Morty, looking him straight in the eye, Morty could see the tears streaming now, and he frowned, what the hell was he talking about? 

 

“Morty, you wasn’t dreaming. And you’re still not, you bled out Morty and I couldn’t stop it, I couldn’t stay.” 

 

Morty froze, he still felt so numb, but the flutter he felt within must’ve been an equivalent to his heartbeat skipping. 

 

“You’re Ghost R-rick? You’re not my Rick.. You’re…” 

 

Ghost Rick nodded his head, pulling Morty into him he held him in a tight embrace, and Morty sobbed, he couldn’t be, there was no way. 

 

“I need you to know, you don’t belong here, you’re not supposed to die.”

 

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? I can’t be, I didn’t want to die, Rick. It was an accident. I don’t want to be dead, I c-cant.” 

 

“Listen to me.”

 

Ghost Rick was now looking at Morty, his face was still wet with tears, and yet his face had become serious, his tone had changed too, he was a little more hushed. 

 

“I don’t have much time to explain…”

 

“Explain what?” 

 

“The longer you stay dead, the stronger he gets, you didn’t do anything wrong Morty, he did it. Your consciousness is in limbo, your body is with Rick, your Rick, he’s taken you to the best Hospital in this Universe, he’s the one who could save you and he has.”

 

“Why the heck didn’t you tell me that first.. I thought this was the end, I thought It was over.” 

 

Ghost Rick held his finger up to his lips, shushing him. 

 

“Because Morty, he was listening. I’m supposed to meet you here and take you through that door, I take you through that door and you’re gone, but I can’t, I’ve already lost one, I can’t lose another..”

 

Morty glanced at the big steel door to their right. 

 

“But you were something Rick created to h-help me.” 

 

“That was true. I used the device in your mind to reach out, you have been targeted Morty, and you need to leave, you can’t let him take over.” 

 

Morty could feel himself getting frustrated now, what the hell was he talking about? Jeeze if his nightmares got any weirder he’d wish he was dead, he couldn’t be more confused than he was right now. 

 

“Take over? What are you talk..”

 

“It’s all part of his plan.”

 

“Rick, will you make sense. I don’t u-understand.” 

 

“Morty, open your eyes.” 

 

Morty frowned, and a sharp stab rushed through him, wait, he felt pain? He felt that, looking down he glanced at his hands, which he was now fully aware of, looking back up he met Ghost Rick’s stare. 

 

“You piece of shit, the fuck was you thinking huh?”

 

It was Rick’s voice, but Ghost Rick was gone, he’d vanished into thin air, and now that he thought about it, he turned his head and looked for the door that had been there, it was gone too… the darkness was closing around him, and at the same time he was becoming more and more aware of his own body, the numbness was lifting and then… he dropped, falling, falling further and further until he landed with a hard crash. 

 

This time when he opened his eyes he was in a hospital room, it was dark but his eyes had adjusted enough to figure it out, and sitting in the corner of the room, asleep and drooling was Rick, arms folded, his head lolled forward. 

 

Did that mean everything that had just evolved in front of him was true? Was Ghost Rick real? And if he was, who the hell was after him? Who wanted to take over? And how the hell was he going to explain it to Rick without knowing for sure himself, Ghost Rick hadn't exactly been detailed, nor had he been helpful when he’d tried to question him, in fact, he didn’t even know how he would have done it… 

 

Sitting himself up Morty dragged his knees up to his chest, hugging them, it was some form of comfort he could from himself at least, his head dropped and he couldn’t hold back the tears, so he silently sniffled into his knees, why the hell was he so damn alone? Why couldn’t he fight for himself? Why was he so weak… he was a Morty… that’s why. 

 

“Scoot over Morty.” 

 

Morty jumped slightly when he heard Rick’s voice, he looked up from his knees and found Rick standing half asleep next to the bed, wiping away the tears on his face he felt his heart drop, for some reason scared, of what? Rick? No, he was scared of facing him, from the outside, he’d just tried to kill himself. Why the hell did Rick even bother rescuing him from his fate when he could have just exchanged him?

 

Rick sat down on the bed, lifting both legs up he crossed them and leant himself back, his head resting against the wall just behind him, Morty had frozen for a second longer, until Rick reached out, grabbed Morty and pulled him to his side, his one arm behind Morty’s neck, the other was resting lazily over Morty’s chest, holding him, making sure he was careful not to drag him around too roughly, the operation that had been done had sealed the wound, and needed a day before it was fully healed, it had only been half of that, there was still a chance of reopening. 

And that was it, grabbing onto Rick’s lab coat he turned himself into him, sobbing uncontrollably, he felt like an absolute idiot, but he only cared for a few seconds, he just couldn’t keep it in, Rick’s hold on him was still soft, but at the same time, it felt protective, it felt comfortable, and it felt safe. 

 

“Sh Morty, I’ve got you. Just let it out.” 

 

Was this the only way he was going to be able to get comfort of a night time? Could Rick really help him in the way that Ghost Rick had said? Because right about now he really needed it. 

 

“Please don’t e-exchange me. I p-promise, I’m not broken. I just need help. Rick, I need your help.” 

 

Morty said, his face buried in Rick’s lab coat, his words had been muffled from being so close, but Rick had been able to understand his every word. 

 

“Morty, go back to sleep.” 

 

And after the sniffles subsided, Rick still held the boy close, Morty had already been through enough, he wasn’t going to add to it, if only Morty knew how angry he was. 


	8. The Flutter

It had been a day and a half since Morty had been admitted to the hospital, half of which he had been in surgery, the day itself was to make sure that his wound fully healed, and that there had been no complications, and of course there had been none, so he was due to leave very soon.. 

 

The hospital attire was not exactly appealing, but why would it need to be if you were in hospital, the only people who see you were the doctors and nurses.. Morty wasn’t exactly a xenophobe, but he much preferred a female, one in particular Jessica.. As soon as she popped into his mind though, he didn’t feel that flutter in his chest like he normally did, had they taken that away from him when they fixed his leg? Staring at himself in the mirror of the bathroom he noted just how dark his eyes were looking, that itself he would blame on the lack of sleep and constant crying.. 

 

Pulling down the hospital bottoms he looked at the bandage that was wrapped around his thigh, he couldn’t feel any pain from it, especially since he had been pumped full of whatever drugs they had used on him, and they were damn good.. Not good enough to get him to sleep… but that was a point, maybe he could get some special alien sleeping pills that void any dreams and will give him the best nights sleep ever.. Tugging at the top half of the bandage he pulled it away from his wound and looked inside, letting the light get there first to give him an advantage, and he could help but feel slightly shocked.. The wound had gone, there wasn’t even a big scar, sure, he could see where it had been, but it wasn’t noticeable at all. 

 

The best hospital in the universe was correct. 

 

Adjusting the bandage he pulled the bottoms back up and made his way back out of the bathroom, the room had no windows, but the lighting provided an almost natural light that was better than being out in the sun on Earth, it was almost refreshing, if that was possible.. Maybe it had been created like that to help the sick heal, it would make sense, because it was making him feel pretty good, in fact it was making him feel much better than he had been a few nights ago.. Maybe that was because of Rick, sure Ghost Rick had been the one who provided him with the most help, but it was his Rick who had saved his life, his stupid little life.. Maybe that was why Rick had saved him, just to teach him a lesson when he did exchange him, to make him suffer because he knew exactly why he’d be changing him.. His life was so complicated at the moment and he didn’t know what he would do, Rick had barely spoken to him this morning, all he’d told him was that he would be back soon.

 

Morty had messed up big time. 

 

Was it okay for him to feel that flutter for Rick? The one he’d once felt for Jessica. 

 

“Ahh Jeeze.”

 

Morty said as he collapsed onto the bed, face down, his arms flat at his sides, he could only blame Ghost Rick for that, he’d been the one to bring up the flask incident, and the fact that his favorite place to masturbate is on Rick’s chair in the garage, and he had been truthful when he’d said it was because of it being out of the way… but at the same time, he’d only receive a bigger thrill if Rick had of walked in on him, and now the more he thought about it, the more he was realising it for himself, Morty couldn’t stop his own thoughts from wandering.. Had he been developing taboo feelings for Rick?

 

“Here, get dressed. I’m taking you home.” 

 

Morty jumped when he heard Rick’s voice, feeling ashamed that something so wrong had just ran through his mind, and he couldn’t help the blush that painted itself all over his face, not that Rick would have heard his thoughts, but still, it was the timing.. 

 

Rick had thrown a bag at the bottom of the bed and sat himself on the chair in the corner, taking out his flask he had a few sips before replacing it in his inside pocket.. Sitting up Morty grabbed the bag, opening it up he took out his clothes and headed for the bathroom, just before he stepped inside he turned back. 

 

“Hey uh Rick?...”

 

“Morty, get urrrpp on with it, we’ll talk later.” 

 

Rick hadn’t even looked up at Morty, and Morty couldn’t help but feel the stab in his chest, wow, that was enough to crush him, for some reason that hurt more than him telling him off, so instead of pushing Rick, he just nodded his head, biting back the tears, again, he felt the tears, he was terrible.. So he stepped inside the bathroom closing the door behind him, pressing his back against the door he sucked in a few breaths, he had to collect himself, he couldn’t keep showing Rick every excuse to get rid of him.

  
  


As soon as he was dressed he made his way back out, there was no more words exchanged between them, all Rick did was stand to his feet, pull out the portal gun and open up a portal, Morty could tell from the way he was standing he was waiting for Morty to go through first, so after realizing this, he made his way towards it, and stepped through, emerging in the garage, Rick stepping in from behind him, the portal closed and Rick had gone towards the garage door, his hand on the handle. 

 

“Just say it was my fault you missed school.” 

 

Grabbing the handle Rick pulled the door open and held it open for Morty, and he still couldn’t help but feel hurt, was Rick really so angry with him? 

 

“Rick, I really n-need to talk to you.” 

 

“Morty, I said we’ll talk later.”

 

Rick held the door in place, this time he was actually looking at Morty, urging him to get out, to which Morty folded his arms and shook his head, there was no way he was going to leave this one, Rick would have to knock him out and physically carry him out of here to get rid of him. 

 

“I’m not going to repeat myself, Morty.” 

 

“I’m.. not l-leaving.” 

 

“Morty.”

 

Rick gave him a warning stare and Morty stared right back, this was it, there was no way he could carry on being so strong, the moment he stepped through the portal and returned here, his anxiety had increased along with all the other emotions he’d been going through, and now Rick was trying to get rid of him he was terrified of being alone.

 

“Please Rick. I’m… I’m scared..” 

 

Morty’s gaze dropped as his words were known, Rick stared at him for a few moments before he released the handle and let the door close shut with a soft click, he moved away from the door and headed over to the desk, sitting himself down on the chair. 

 

“Are you mad at me?” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

Morty should have expected that answer, he twiddled with his thumbs, trying to distract himself from his own patheticness, then Rick continued through the silence.

 

“And no…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kudos and the kind worded comments, it's really made me feel good about this, I just hope I'm making it readable for you all, enough to enjoy it anyway. 
> 
> Again, thank you.


	9. An Accident

Morty then took a moment before he turned around because of Rick’s additional words he frowned, slightly confused and curious at the same time, he was staring at the back of Rick’s head, waiting for him to continue with his meaning, and since the silence went on for a few minutes, Morty broke it. 

 

“No?” 

 

“No, Morty I part blame myself. When you were a baby I installed something Morty, it was supposed to be something to stop you from ever getting to a point like this. It was supposed to develop a holo-uurrrrpppp-gram that would send you to me if you ever needed help, the mind is a fragile thing Morty, stress, lack of sleep, and -hic- just the envi-uurrrppp-ronment can cause a boat load of problems. Summer and Beth have one too, obviously they were a complete flop…”

 

Once again the flask was in his hand, taking off the cap he tilted it back, and the last little drops landed on his tongue… pouting he eyed the hole to see why there was no more coming through, obviously empty Rick stood to his feet and passed Morty, making his way over to his shelf, searching each one. 

 

“Rick, it wasn’t a flop. It worked..” 

 

Stopping his search for a few seconds Rick turned to face Morty, and Morty couldn’t help but read that Rick was even anger with him just by telling him that it worked, when Rick didn’t say anything to him, he swallowed hard. 

 

“I uh.. I saw you, I thought it was a dream R-rick, either that or I was losing my mind, I didn’t believe what was happening so I tried to just carry on, I.. I didn’t think..” 

 

“No, Morty you didn’t, You never do… This.. all of this could have been avoided.” 

 

“It was an accident. I wasn’t s-s-supposed..”

 

“S-s-s-supposed to what Morty, Spit it out for fucksake, want me to say it? Urp.. you wasn’t supposed to kill yourself? Is that what you wanted to say? The gash through one of your main arteries was an accident? Very fucking precise.. How the fuck am I going to accept that, Morty?”

 

Turning himself away from Morty, Rick seemed to be digging further back on the shelf for something, Morty watched him, the tears were collecting, and he knew if he blinked now they would fall and he wouldn’t stop, once again, he’d lost.. 

 

“Where the fuck’s my scotch.” 

 

Rick muttered, his voice was annoyed, and Morty could tell he’d messed up completely, he seemed to give up and turned himself back to Morty, he was stepping towards him, pointing his finger directly at him. 

 

“Do you know what makes it wo-uurrpp-rse Morty? Huh? The amount of shit we have been through together, the danger, the near death experiences… the fact that you and I came here together… that Beth, Jerry and Summer are not even our original Beth, Jerry and Summer… and you couldn’t come to me… what the fuck is that all about?”

 

The tears were streaming now, and Morty couldn’t help the hiccups, he was getting in such a mess, and he couldn’t even bring himself to reply to him, Rick had got a point, even though he’d tried to dismiss everything that had happened, tried to forget he couldn’t, but now… he’d wished he’d have done something, he had never seen Rick like this and he didn’t like it, he didn’t like being the cause of it. 

 

“Well, M-oar-ty? Might as well spit this one out─else I’m going to give the fuck up completely, I’m not near drunk enough for this shit, and I’ve lost my only bottle of scotch..” 

 

Shrugging his shoulders upwards slowly, he also raised his brows, waiting for the sniffling Morty to respond to him, and Morty didn’t, Rick rolled his eyes and shook his head, shifting past Morty he headed for the desk again, this time he pulled open one of the drawers and pulled something out of it, turning back he tilted Morty’s head forward with a little more force than he should have, but Morty allowed it, he then felt something cold and metal being pressed against his skin, there was a sharp pain, and a bleep, and Morty was assuming from that Rick was doing something to the device that had been mentioned.. Bringing both his hands up to his eyes he wiped at the still flowing tears, sniffled a few more times and then he spoke, quietly, but enough for Rick to hear him. 

 

“I d-didn’t w-w-want.. You.. to re-replace me.” 

 

“Huh?” 

 

“The whole time, I was scared… s-scared that you’d want a new M-Morty. That I was too faulty for you─Rick, don’t want to be replaced.”

 

Rick had gone quiet and Morty took it as his chance to actually get his experiance out, exactly how everything had been for him. 

 

“The nightmares are what started it off, I-I k-kept dreaming about killing you, I would kill you Rick and I would enjoy every moment.. No matter h-how I killed you, I loved the feeling it gave me.. And that terrified me.. And the more it terrified me, the more I had to keep it to myself.. I’ve not been able to get it out of my head, just like those I killed, and those who have suffered because of something I’ve d-done.. I feel alone, because Mom isn’t even Mom.. She is, Rick, but she’s not, I cannot look at her.. And.. and just see Mom, I look at her and I see the dead Morty’s Mom, Rick.. And.. I wanted to drink and forget, and I wanted to numb myself, like.. Like you h-have done.. And when I started to see Ghost Rick, I thought.. Gee Morty, you’re losing it or you’re not even awake, and you never have been.. And it was all just a bad dream.. And I wanted to see, I wanted to cut, all I wanted to do was cut.. I wanted to feel the pain.. I needed something.. S-s-something I could control myself. And because I was so desperate to ignore the offer for help… I slipped, it went wr-wrong… And you found out in the worst possible way I could…”

 

Collapsing to the ground Morty held his hands over his face, crying harder than he had done ever before, the tears were never ending, and the endless amounts of sorry’s that he was whispering into his hands were all he could do.. He couldn’t explain any longer, he’d just broke down, this was the end of it, this was the point he couldn’t return from, he’d just told everything he could to Rick, and now Rick would replace him, why the hell would he want something so broken and whiney? 

 

The silence from Rick seemed to last a very long time, and if it wasn’t for not hearing him move towards him he would have thought he’d left him already. 

 

“I was scared too Morty.” 

 

Rick was sitting crossed legged in front of Morty, and when Morty looked up he met his gaze, there seemed to have been something shift in Rick because his face wasn’t as angry looking, it had softened to a point, to a point where Morty could relax a little..

 

“When I found you.. I thought it was too late. And, if we’re being realistic Morty, I was.. You’d died twice in the hospital Morty. If it had been a hospital on Earth, then I would have lost you.”

 

There was a pause. And then Rick added.

 

“What’s the Rickiest Rick without the Mortiest Morty? Even if you did try to kill me Morty, I wouldn’t replace you for anything.. Now. Do you want my help?”

 

Morty couldn’t believe what he was hearing, had Rick really just said that to him? Had he really just told him he wouldn’t replace him? Was this too good to be true? Now this, this had better not be one of his dreams, because if it was, it was more cruel than anything else he’d witnessed. 

 

Morty nodded his head. 

 

“Then Morty, I need you to tell me everything you know about Ghost Rick.” 


	10. Next Time

Morty didn’t question why Rick was so interested in knowing about Ghost Rick, sure there was a slim possibility that it was because he was curious as to why he was seeing a dead version of himself, maybe he thought in a strange way it would have been linked to the dreams, that Ghost Rick was a Ghost because Morty had been killing him in his dreams and that was just how the hologram itself turned out.. He would leave that as a maybe because Morty really had no idea, and so he did his best to tell him everything he knew, from the very moment he first saw Ghost Rick, right up until the point that Ghost Rick showed up when he was dying, and throughout Rick actually listened to him, there was nothing that seemed to distracted Rick, not even the flask, which, was a big surprise to him. 

 

“Why do you w-want to know so much about Ghost Rick?” 

 

Okay so it didn’t last because as soon as Morty had asked the question Rick had the flask back in his hand, opening it up and taking a big gulp of nothing.. He must’ve forgot about it being empty because Morty saw just how gutted he seemed to be, and since he couldn’t find his scotch, he moved himself away from Morty who was sitting more comfortably on the floor than he had been before, Rick had his back to him, but Morty could see that he was picking up some vial, and he drank whatever the purple liquid was inside, Morty pulled a face and Rick turned back towards him, the purple liquid had spilled down his chin and Rick was using the back of his hand to wipe it away before it dropped down onto his shirt.. Not that he was actually trying to avoid making a mess, because Morty had seen him countless times wandering around with either a damp patch from a drink, sick, or just drool.. Usually when he’d been drinking all through the night, so Morty knew just from that action alone that Rick was not nearly drunk enough to be stopping his mess. 

 

“Bec-uuurrpp-ause M-oar-ty, he’s a ghost, and what makes him a ghost? From your point of view?” 

 

“Uhh.. he said so.” 

 

Rick rolled his eyes and then shook his head, urging for Morty to try again. 

 

“He’s.. he’s… uh.. W-well I could see straight through him.” 

 

“JACKPOT.” 

 

Rick shouted he had quickly closed the gap between him and Morty and slammed himself down onto his knees which Morty felt, grabbing the boys shoulders Rick shook him a little.

 

“You could see through him Morty. The device in your head was designed so that y-uurrpp-ou could see a hologram of someone close to you, someone who would guide you to me, someone you would not fear, and someone who was solid.. I made the hologram design so they would be realistic, save you think you was losing your minds.  Morty, you said he used the device to talk to you or something like that yeah? Well, that might come in useful. Are you sure he didn’t tell you who it was that was behind whatever it was he was behind?”

 

Rick’s voice had started to slur, and his eyes had started to glaze over, Morty frowned and cocked his head to the side, he had made some kind of sense to start with but now he was losing Morty, and that was easily done especially when Rick went off on one and now Rick was now looking away from him, like he’d completely zoned out, so did he even know what the hell he was on about?

 

“Rick? I still don’t understand.” 

 

There was no response from Rick, his grip on Morty’s shoulders was the only thing that made him aware that Rick was still actually alive, lifting his hand he waved it out in front of Rick’s face, his eyes didn’t even move, he didn’t even blink or flinch when Morty pushed his fingers close to Rick’s eye.. And then, he pushed it all the way, poking his finger straight into Rick’s left eye, and as soon as he had done Rick responded straight away, yanking both his hands from off of Morty’s shoulders, he clasped them both over his left eye, tumbling backwards he landed on his back and let out a pained cry. 

 

“Ahh shit, Morty, what… what the fuck was that for?” 

 

The satisfaction that rushed through Morty’s body left him smirking in response, he wasn’t exactly expecting such a good feeling to come out of it, and it was the first time in a while that he’d found something funny, Rick was now sitting up and looking at him with his good eye, still covering the other with only his left hand now, applying pressure to the lip to stop the pain.

 

“I’m sorry Rick but you’d gone quiet.. I t-thought you’d had a seizure or something.” 

 

“Gee thanks Morty. Great way to cure it.” 

 

Rick said lacing his words with sarcasm, when he moved his hands away from his eye, Morty couldn’t help the burst of laughter that came out, in that short space of time since poking his eye, Rick’s eye had gone bloodshot red, his lid was half shut and his eye was watering that much it had started to roll down his cheek, and Morty couldn’t help but find it amusing, and the more Rick tried to open his eye properly, the funnier he looked, clutching at his stomach he was the one to fall back this time rolling onto his side he held his stomach tighter. 

 

“Rick.. s-stop it.. I can’t.. Breathe.” 

 

“Sadistic fuck.” 

 

Rick replied with a grin. 

 

“At least you’ve got your sense of humour back Morty. I said I’d help you, but if it means you poking my eyes out, just to keep getting a laugh, then you’re on your own Morty, I’d need barrels of alcohol for that.” 

 

Morty had noted just how good it was to share everything with Rick, not only did he know what he’d been going through, but he knew how to help him, he didn’t need to be gentle around him, he didn’t need to tread on shards of glass in case he triggered his emotions again, he was just himself, and that was what helped, Morty had been that scared of Rick knowing and just trading him in, he’d forgot how much he needed to be around Rick, and just how much Rick’s company was enough to help him through anything, he’d avoided being around him too long for the wrong reasons, he should have just trusted Rick.. but he needed to stop dwelling, he was out of the cave, and he was in the open, sharing it all with Rick. 

 

And this time, his tears were from laughing, not from crying, and that made him feel so much better, laughter was the best medicine, and it really did make him feel happy.. Unless that was just because of Rick.. Pushing himself up he let his hand drop into his lap from off his stomach, and then looked back to Rick, this time he didn’t laugh, but he did smirk, and Rick smirked back ruffling Morty’s hair. 

 

“Should’ve come to me sooner Morty.” 

 

Morty nodded his head, he obviously knew that now. 

 

“I won’t hesitate n-next time.” 

 

“I’ll make sure there’s no next time.” 


	11. Ghost Morty

Rick had left it there, standing up he made his way back to the desk, grabbing his chair he wheeled it to him, turning it so that the seat was facing Morty, and then he nodded towards it. 

 

“Take a se-uurrp.. Seat, Morty.”

 

Morty’s eyes were on the seat, and he couldn’t help the flush that was now appearing, and there was an uncontrollable twitch within his trousers, it was now the thought of being offered a seat in Rick’s chair, the very chair that Morty would sneak in to masturbate on.. Slowly getting up off the garage floor Morty made his way over, turning his back to it, he sat down and Rick spun the chair around so that Morty’s legs were underneath the desk and Rick was standing to his right, fiddling with the device he had used not too long ago on the back of Morty’s neck, leaning himself over Morty he reached for the computer and pulled it along the desk, so that it was now in front of Morty. 

 

And all that ran through Morty’s mind was how good Rick smelt, strangely enough the smell of alcohol on top of Rick’s natural scent made him smell even better, maybe it was just what he was used to, it was comforting, and it was Rick, his Rick, and now this time he was thankful he was under the table, because for the first time in his life he had a growing hard on for his grandpa… he was oh so twisted. 

 

“I said, put this on your wrist Morty.” 

 

Morty had looked up to Rick and gave him a blank stare, to which Rick grabbed Morty’s wrist and slipped the band around it, when Morty realised what he had said, he looked down to the band and followed the wires that come off it, the one wire was linked to the computer and the other wire was connected to the device in Rick’s hand. 

 

“W-what is it Rick?” 

 

“It’s an ex--extension of the fitting in your head, this in my hand is the remote, and that you’re connected to is a transfer cable, Morty. I’m going to lo-urrp-cate, all the ‘alien’ interference that the device has experienced over the past week.. Should be enough to cover when Ghost Rick showed up.” 

 

“What will it do?” 

 

“This…” 

 

Rick said as he pressed one of the buttons on the remote, there was a sharp pain jolt quickly through the back of Morty’s head straight to the front, and then it subsided almost as quickly as it had appeared, and his vision had gone black for a few seconds, so when it returned he was not expecting to see Ghost Rick on the computer screen in front of him, Rick was now standing behind Morty, his hands cross over his chest, the remote device was still in his hand, and his attention was on Ghost Rick, who for a moment seemed to try and grasp what exactly was going on. 

 

“Ghooooostt Riiiiiiick.”

 

“C-137.” 

 

From what Morty could get, Ghost Rick was certainly a little more controlled than his Rick was, he’d not really noticed it before and maybe that was because of how involved in himself he was, that was probably what came to all Rick’s in death, they had no alcohol or substances that they could abuse themselves with, so they became… well, they became Ghost Rick. 

 

“Morty? You told him everything yes?” 

 

Morty nodded his head and was about to reply, but Rick cut in just before he opened his mouth.

 

“Yeah no th-uurrpp-anks to you, butting in and ruining my device.” 

 

Before Rick could go on and on about how Ghost Rick was the one he blamed for why Morty had nearly died he paused, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

 

“Wait.. forget that for now, I need to know. Who the fuck has targeted my Morty?” 

 

Morty couldn’t help but look up towards Rick when he heard him say that, the spark had been ignited and now anything Rick was saying that remotely meant anything important to Morty only made him feel even more for him, and no he wouldn’t keep the thoughts in his head because if he did his boner would be close to touching the desk so instead he looked back to the computer screen and back to Ghost Rick, he met his gaze, and then he remembered that Ghost Rick was on the computer screen due to the device in his head, which meant everything that had just ran through Morty’s mind, Ghost Rick knew about, and Ghost Rick didn’t say anything, all he did was meet Rick’s cold and questioning stare. 

 

“My Morty has targeted your Morty.” 

 

As soon as he said it, Morty frowned and he assumed that Rick did because of the way he responded. 

 

“The fuck do you mean your Morty has targeted my Morty?”

 

“My Morty was the one who got us killed Rick, I was working on something in that very garage you’re in now, but little did I know that Morty had distracted me so that he could tamper with it. He was… Well he was sick Rick.” 

 

“How the fuck did you let it get that far? If you knew there was something uurrrp… wrong. Then why didn’t you do the you know what on him?” 

 

Morty again looked up to Rick, a frown on his face, and Rick met his gaze, obviously knowing that Morty would question him about it. 

 

“I’ll uh.. Tell you later Morty, if I remember.” 

 

Rick said, which Morty wasn’t going to argue with because he knew that he’d keep reminding him later down the line and Rick would have to give in eventually and tell him, even though he’d said he would, usually he’d wait until Morty forgot, but when it was aimed at him, indirectly or not, he wouldn’t forget and he’d want to know. 

 

“Because he’s my Morty Rick, sure there are some Rick’s out there that would replace their Morty in a flash, but not mine, even after he killed me, I was still on his side.”

 

“Well duuuuh.. You’re both dead.” 

 

Rick said dropping his arms to his side. 

 

“Rick, my Morty wants you.” 

 

As soon as Ghost Rick said it, Morty couldn’t help but feel the sting of jealousy that ran through his entire being, stabbing him straight in the heart. 

 

“Wants me? I mean, I kno-know most Morty’s do, but what does he want me for?” 

 

“I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me, he doesn’t trust me enough anymore. All I know is, he’s got some way of getting inside your Morty’s head and he wants him dead, when Morty dies my Morty will take over. And he keeps using me to try and draw you to that Morty, I couldn’t save him from himself, and I couldn’t save you either, I wanted to do just what he said, but when I saw how low he'd got you, I couldn't do it, he played on your guilt for the dead Morty, he drove you to the darkness, and I really am sorry for that. But now, what I’m telling you, what I’m risking, I hope I can make up for it, whatever he has planned Rick he needs to be stopped.” 

 

“Sounds like some cheap ass movie.”

 

Once Ghost Rick had finished, Rick pressed the button again on the remote and Morty pulled off the band around his wrist, using his hands to push the desk he spun around so that he was facing Rick. 

 

“Can I ask y-you something?” 

 

“Hm?” 

 

Rick had placed everything onto the desk and was heading for the back of the garage where his shelving unit was, he pulled away a few of the boxes and reached for a smaller one, grabbing it he turned back and headed back to Morty. 

 

“If uh.. G-ghost Morty…”

 

If he was dead he assumed that was appropriate for him. 

 

“Is in my head.. Like Ghost Rick just said, doesn’t that mean he could hear everything?” 

 

“Possibly Morty.” 

 

“Well.. doesn’t that mean he knows we know?” 

 

“Yeah maybe.. But fuck him Morty, I’m going to get that little bastard. You hear me in there you little fu-uurrp-ck. I’m coming for you, best get that ass ready for the spanking of a lifetime.”

 

Rick said it knocking his fist against the side of Morty’s head, gazing deeply into his eyes, and the flush returned to Morty, especially with what Rick said, how the fuck did that excite him so much? He had a crazy Ghost version of himself inside his head, with the intention to get Morty killed, and he was excited.. 

 

“Ahh jeeze.” 

 

Morty said.

 

“Time for some sleep Morty, I’m going in.” 

 

Grabbing the box from off the desk Rick had turned and left the garage way before Morty had chance to question him, he turned quickly to look at the computer screen, before he turned back, got off the chair and followed him out of the garage, out of it all, the whole experience combined with now knowing what had been the possible cause for it all, the only thing Morty was worried about was Rick would be in his dreams, he would be in his mind, and if anything happened that would reveal these newfound taboo feelings for him, he’d want to die, hell, he’d let Ghost Morty take over then and save his embarrassment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're all so kind, and I'm so happy you're enjoying this, I'm enjoying writing it.   
> And I can't keep thank you all enough for the kudos and kind comments, so thank you, thank you thaaaank youuu. :D <3


	12. Ah Jeeze

Before the two of them had managed to get up the stairs and into Morty’s bedroom, there had been a long and nearly twenty minute conversation with both Beth and Jerry, as Rick had told him to, he blamed it all on him, he was glad that Rick had given him that opportunity because there was no way he could stop and sit down with both his parents, telling them just what had happened, Morty didn’t actually think he would ever be ready for something like that because he knew if he told either one of them, he would be wrapped up in bubble wrap and never allowed to leave their sights, as much as it was an accident, they wouldn’t see it like that, and Morty would suffer even more for admitting to them what had happened, and that only meant he was even more grateful to Rick for allowing him to keep it to himself. 

 

Even though there was an argument over whether Morty should be away for so long, Beth and Jerry eventually continued with what they were going to do in the first place, which was ‘date night’, if that is what it could be classed as anyway, Morty had witnessed whenever they come home from such a night, and the two would be at each other's throats, arguing over something stupid normally.. But at least it would mean they were out the way for the rest of the evening, and Summer, well, she was never really much of a bother when she was around, so there was no need to get rid of her, Morty always worried when they were both not away from the house, because anything could go wrong, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Rick felt that way too. It was much better to get out the portal gun and run off somewhere else than stay in. 

 

Morty was sitting on the edge of his bed looking towards Rick, who was just locking the door, and once he had done he’d made his way across to the window, yanking the curtains to a close he turned his attention to Morty and Morty’s eyes widened slightly not expecting him to suddenly turn. 

 

And why the heck did Morty feel so awkward, this was his bedroom, why would be need to feel like that, sure, Rick had just locked them both in, and now the room was darker and seemingly more intimate, but that was just Morty’s mind wandering off into the gutter, and if he allowed it to carry on into the sewers then he would really be committing to it all. 

 

“So.. uh.. R-rick? What do I need to do?” 

 

“Sleep Morty, I need you to sleep.” 

 

Rick said closing the distance to the bed, he grabbed Morty’s pillows and started fluffing them up, grabbing the bed sheets he pulled them back and smacked the mattress, then he stood straight and glanced around the room, he rushed over to one of Morty’s drawers and opened it up, seemingly finding the right one because he grabbed some pajamas out of there and threw them at Morty, hitting him in the face, to which Morty caught them and frowned. 

 

“Put.. put them on, I need you to be comfortable, which is why we’re doing this in here and not in the garage. Quickly, Morty.” 

 

Morty grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, letting it drop to the floor he started to unfold the pajama top, a little slower than what he could tell Rick wanted him to, because when he glanced up to Rick, he was marching towards him, snatching the shirt out of Morty’s hands he tugged it over Morty’s head, leaving his hair a complete and utter mess, tugging it down and pulling Morty’s arms through the sleeves he then used some force to push Morty back onto the bed before he could protest Rick had pulled his bottoms off, including his underwear, and in seconds he’d gotten Morty into his pajama bottoms.

 

“There.. Now get in bed.” 

 

For a few moments, Morty had to collect his thoughts, try and understand what the hell had just happened to him, and for a moment he couldn’t decide if he felt violated, or aroused.. Or even both? And jeeze he was more than relieved he’d not had some thought sexually to do with Rick, else he’d have had a hard on, and surely Rick wouldn’t have missed that with the way he’d just handled him. 

 

Crawling up the bed he got himself under the covers and pulled them up, it really was comfortable, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but still feel that awkwardness, he could tell it was just him that sensed it, because why the hell would Rick feel it too, they were innocently in Morty’s room and they were innocently going to save Morty’s mind from a Ghost, well, Rick was going to do that, Morty had no idea how it was going to work until he actually got there himself… Oh but imagine.. Imagine how it would be if Rick stripped him off like that with the intention not to replace his clothes straight away, okay now he was aroused. Fantastic timing Morty.

 

“Rick, Do I really need to be in bed for t-this? I feel weird.” 

 

“Morty, honestly no you don’t. Just makes it easier to explain if anything happens to you.” 

 

Rick was once again fiddling with something and casually added. 

 

“Beth, Jerry..? Morty,  well he died peacefully in his sleep.”

 

The silence that came from Morty was enough for Rick to glance up to meet his cold stare, obviously he’d not taken that very funny, and Rick waved it off literally.. 

 

“That was a joke Morty.”

 

Before Morty could even summon a response, Rick had pushed the small device into Morty’s ear, there had been a moment where he knew he said something to Rick, but all that came out was a bunch of garbage, his tongue wouldn’t move, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he dropped back landing on the pillow, the quickest he had ever fallen asleep, and as the sleep took over him, he heard Rick telling him that he would be there real soon, maybe he’d imagined that part? Because right now he was having a very very trippy time, he felt himself falling asleep, and he was still going, right the way into REM sleep, and he could feel how deep he was, literally he could feel it, an experience not really known to a human being, it was like he was falling backwards down a hole, but slowly, and he was continually sinking further within, nothing behind him stopping him, and just before he became fully aware his senses were dampened, and it was the weirdest, he knew one thing, he was thankful he didn’t experience that every night, there was no way he could wake up and explain what it’s like, maybe that was what explained the falling feeling when you jolt awake?

 

And now, the scenery around him changed, knitting a dream together before his very eyes, the brightness caused him to squint, which was from the sun, well, if that was what it was called here, he noted how yellow the sky was, the sun itself was a bright white, and when he sat himself up from the beach chair he’d ‘awakened’ on he could see the sea, the very bright green sea, as strange as the combination was, it actually looked beautiful, and he was in awe… and for a moment he couldn’t take his eyes off it, to the horizon he could see a planet, with two rings around it.. 

 

Morty pushed himself up from off the chair, his feet landing in the pink sands, it was warm to the touch, and there was a soft electrical current making it’s way through the balls of his feet, giving him a strange but satisfying sensation.. He stepped forwards and headed to the edge of the water, and the green sea washed over his feet which made him smile, he felt so content, he released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and sucked in another, taking in the concoction of smells around him, most of which he had a hard time recognising, but one.. It was sweet, like sugar. 

 

“Nice to see you awake. You’ve been asleep for hours. Here. I got you a drink.” 

 

It was Rick’s voice, but at the same time, it wasn’t and when he turned his head to check, his jaw almost dropped off, stood before him was a very young looking Rick, if he had to guess he would have put him around nineteen years old, and for that moment, Morty couldn’t help but stare.. 

 

Rick was standing holding out a glass, the liquid inside was swirling in on itself and changing color, the glittery looking substance within shone in the sun.. Rick had just the lab coat on his top half, and blue hawaiian style shorts on, he had a pair of sunglasses that were propped on top of his head, his hair had been pulled back into a small ponytail and he had a half smile on his face that Morty was drawn into, he couldn’t speak, he’d lost the ability to form words, and the Rick before him chuckled, grabbing Morty’s hand he put the drink into it, making sure he held it before he let go, then he stepped close to the boy.. Hawaiian Rick was not as tall as Morty’s Rick, but he still stood taller than Morty by a couple of inches… and once again, Morty found himself catching his own breath, that was until Hawaiian Rick leaned himself in to.. Wait.. he was going to kiss Morty.. There was no way he could stop the cry of shock that left his lips,  Morty’s eyes widened and he dropped the glass, thankfully that was enough for Hawaiian Rick to step back, a shocked look shot across his face. 

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll go get you another. Stay here Morty.”

 

“U-uh sure.” 

 

Hawaiian Rick gave Morty a soft smile, leant down and grabbed the glass up from off the floor, he turned away from him and made his way back across the sand towards a small hut that Morty could see in the distance, that was when he’d realised, he’d not exactly looked behind him. 

 

As far as his eyes could see, there was sand all around, the random palms trees that had been scattered here and there made it look like a postcard, he didn’t take in too much detail because he was far more interested in the building that was just behind where he’d been sitting, it looked similar to the hut that hawaiian Rick had just wandered off to, but this was a little bigger, for some reason he was drawn, so, his curiosity got the better of him, and he edged his way forwards, the electricity in the balls of his feet seemed to be getting more intense, and as he reached the step up to the door of the building, he felt relief wash over him. 

 

There was no door, so when Morty stepped inside he was greeted by darkness, it took him a moment to realise that just in front of him was a dark blackout cloth hanging over the door frame which lead into another room, parting it he stepped through and he found once again he was opening his eyes wide.

 

“Ah Je-eeze.” 


	13. Don't Die

The room he had stepped into was way bigger than what the building looked like on the outside, in the middle of the room was a gigantic hot tub, which explained why the room was so warm, and so steamy, what it didn’t explain though was the amount of Rick’s that were surrounding the hot tub.. Somewhere sitting within the warmth, others were sitting around the edge, and out of nowhere, there was two Rick’s slipping their arms around his shoulders, one on each side, he glanced towards the one on his right, he looked a little older than Hawaiian Rick, maybe twenty four, he only wore a towel, and it wasn’t wrapped around his waist.. 

 

Turning his head again he looked to the Rick on his left, maybe twenty, jeeze when did he get an expert with age?... This Rick was wearing a gown that was as pointless as Morty’s life had been, open in the middle, and showing just as much as towel Rick was… 

 

“We saved you a spot Morty.” 

 

Gown Rick said. 

 

“Come on, let’s get your clothes off.” 

 

Towel Rick added. 

 

“Uh..uhm no, n-no thanks, I just..” 

 

“You just what Morty?” 

 

This voice had not come from Towel Rick, nor had it come from Gown Rick, so when Morty figured that out he turned his attention to the presence in front of him, it was another Rick, but this Rick was closer to the age of his very own Rick, he was naked and… ah jeeze.. He was very, wet… Wet Rick’s hair was not sticking up all over the place, but instead flat down on his face, just covering his forehead, it looked just like he’d gotten out of the hot tub and purposely positioned his hair like it with a flick of his head… Morty wouldn’t have minded if this had of been his dreams over the last few weeks, sure, mentally scarring in one way or another, but at the same time, it was far from being a nightmare, he’d much rather this.. And as if that had of triggered something in his head, he frowned, why was he thinking about dreaming? This was his reality. Wasn’t it?

 

“Morty? Do you want to come with me?” 

 

Morty had drifted away for a moment, so when he returned and saw Wet Rick’s hand out for him, he looked towards it, wary.. Towel Rick leant down and whispered into his ear. 

 

“I’ll kiss Rick. And I’ll let you watch Morty.” 

 

“Huh? Wha..what?”

 

“Or do you only want these lips to be yours Morty?” 

 

Gown Rick added. 

 

The two of them exchanged a smirk, and Morty shrugged himself out of their grip completely, shuddering at their words, he had fallen asleep right? This was supposed to be his dream.. But there had been nothing come close to this before, he’d never in his life dreamt of Rick in such a way, and he’d certainly never dreamt of so many Rick’s in one place. Because he’d turned himself towards them both, he held his hands up, and shook his head. 

 

“No, no.. no.. this isn’t right. St-stop it.” 

 

Stepping backwards he bumped into Wet Rick, who grabbed the boy’s hand, dragging him over to the hot tub, the Rick’s surrounding it got themselves out of the way, the ones inside made their ways over to the edge and got out, leaving a large amount of open space within.. Wet Rick pulled Morty up the steps and then  guided him into the hot tub, had that been the intention to get him inside because the water was that hot it was making him feel very very relaxed, and once again he was losing the will to believe this was all just a dream for him, what the hell was going on? 

 

“You’re confused aren’t you?” 

 

Wet Rick questioned him, he was sitting at the side of the hot tub, his arms relaxed comfortably over the sides of the tub, his eyes hadn’t left Morty just yet, and Morty couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, where the hell was his Rick? He’d told him he’d be there soon, he was the one who wanted to get inside his head to help him out, and he was nowhere to be seen─well, he was seen, Morty could certainly see several of him, but not... 

 

“The longer you stay in one dream Morty, the easier it is to forget that it is in fact a dream, and you remember being told, if you die here, you’ll die for real.” 

 

Morty nodded his head, his brow was furrowed, he was standing with his arms folded over his chest, glancing at the Rick’s around the hot tub, as if he was trying to find his Rick, they were all either too young, or they didn’t have the same feeling when he looked at them, there was no spark with any of them, that’s how he knew, his Rick wasn’t here with him. 

 

“O-okay, great, I’m going to go now.”

 

“Morty, you’re not going anywhere.” 

 

Moving forward in the water Wet Rick grabbed Morty by the wrists, and then looked directly into his eyes, there was certainly no spark there, one thing he did feel was the fear rising within him, Wet Rick was strong, and even as he tried to struggle free from his grip, he couldn’t do it, he was stuck. 

 

“It will just feel like you are going to sleep Morty, I promise you.”

 

So this very moment Morty wished this had turned into the nightmares he’d been having, as painful as they were for him, he still had some kind of power over them, and he certainly had some kind of power over Rick, but now, he was weak, and he was stuck in Wet Rick’s grasp.. And before he could even take in a breath, Wet Rick grabbed his hair, holding it tightly in his hands, the other was keeping a hold of his wrists, and then, he pushed Morty’s head under the water, the automatic struggle Morty was faced with was also filled with his fear, his lungs were already starting to burn and the more that he was struggling, the harder it was to keep himself from taking in a gulp of water.. Morty tried to use his legs to kick out at Wet Rick, but his own buoyancy was against him, and the more he tried to, the harder it was to get a good kick at him, he just seemed to swipe at his legs underneath the water, and it wasn’t get him anywhere, the only thing it was doing was causing him more pain.. 

 

Morty was going to live another new experience, he was going to find out what it was like to die inside a dream, not many people could share that experience, for good reason too, exactly how Morty was going to be unable to share it, especially with Rick, this dream had just been flipped completely around, instead of Morty killing Rick, Rick seemed to have his own back and kill him, talk about dream karma. 

  
  


This was it now, Morty’s pain had gone, he couldn’t actually feel anything, it was a feeling of numbness, a numbness he’d wanted to feel from the very start, but this, this was not the way he wanted it, that meant, he’d not been able to fight it long enough to survive, he’d failed himself, and he’d failed Rick.

 

“You’ve not failed anyone Morty, you got this far, you have been strong enough to get this far.” 

 

Morty’s eyes must’ve been closed because he found himself opening them, and when he did, Ghost Rick was standing right in front of him, he felt a load of calmness wash over him, for some reason Ghost Rick had that power over him, maybe it was because of how much he’d actually helped him, or maybe that was just Ghost Rick, he didn’t care what it was, he enjoyed it, there was nothing but a white mist surrounding the two of them, it wasn’t like before when Morty had died, this time it was faded, and not near as dark. 

 

“What makes you so sure? I w-was too pathetic to even fight him, I couldn’t fight him, I just let it happen.” 

 

Morty’s tears were back, this time though, they were not because he was depressed and unable to control his emotions, they were because he felt like a failure, they were how his body reacted to it, the tears formed and when they fell down his cheeks they seemed to float off into the mist, like they were standing in a small part of space where there was no gravity to carry them to the floor.

 

“Oh Morty.” 

 

Ghost Rick pulled Morty into a hug, and Morty reacted, wrapping his arms around him, sniffling into his chest. 

 

“I’m pathetic, I have always been p-p-pathetic, as scary as my nightmares had been, and as much as I hated the guilt about those who had been killed, I was at least able to feel powerful, killing made me feel powerful Rick.”

 

“And how many times does power get over thrown? How many people lost themselves because of power? Morty, you’re not pathetic, you are you.. You’re human. You’ve made mistakes, and you have to pay for them, and as you get older you’ll understand how those mistakes shape and form you, you’ll become stronger because of it, sure, first, you will struggle, but Rick will be there to help you through it, he’s been through it himself, so he understands how it feels, he knows just how difficult it is at first. Rick had to go through it alone, so he just shut everything off, but you Morty, you won’t be alone.” 

 

“But.. he’d have never done anything like…” 

 

“Believe me Morty, he tried. It wouldn’t have been an accident if it had of been successful.” 

 

Morty felt a stab in his chest upon hearing Ghost Rick’s words, he really didn’t know anything about Rick did he? The strongest man in his eyes had been through his weakest moments, and he’d been through them alone, was that why he’d been so angry with Morty for not telling him? Because he didn’t want him to go through it alone? 

 

Ghost Rick smiled and held Morty tighter against him. 

 

“He’d never want you to go through it alone, he loves you. He may not show it often, but he does.” 

 

Letting go of Morty, Ghost Rick was now looking him straight in the eye. 

 

“I mean, why save your life twice if he didn’t love you?” 

 

Morty frowned at his words, twice? 

 

“He’d only saved me the once.” 

 

“Close your eyes Morty.”

 

Ghost Rick said and Morty did so, Ghost Rick then leaned himself into Morty, pressing his lips to the boys, Morty frowned in confusion, what was with this fixation? Surely even dead he wasn’t still wishing for Rick’s lips against his own.. 

 

That was when he got distracted by the pain rising in his chest, his eyes opened and he coughed, spluttering water out of his mouth, his vision was coming back to him slowly, there was small white dots flickering about his vision, and again he needed to cough, so he did, catching his breath at the same time, he held onto his chest and sat himself forward, his body feeling weak, but at least he could feel it, it was difficult to keep himself upright since the pain in his chest had not subsided, and that was the moment he felt a hand against his back, and that’s when he found him, Rick.. well, hawaiian Rick, but the moment he found his gaze he felt that spark, it was his Rick.. 

 

“I swear Morty, you die one more time and I’ll bring you back again and kill you myself.” 

 

“Rick? You’re here.” 

 

“Well duh.. I said I would be didn’t I, I came to ki-kick ass Morty.” 

 

Morty pushed himself forward and helped him to his feet, he wobbled slightly and Rick stood close, just in case, Morty leant himself against him, and then frowned, now that his vision was a little clearer he looked around them. 

 

“Where…?” 

 

“I offered him a drink.. O-uurp- only, only the drink was acid. And the dream itself had been from your mind, aaand someone else's influence, but... because you’re mind had been preoccupied, and the other was covered in acid, the dream itself broke down.”

 

“Why the hell won’t you die Morty?” 

 

The voice surprised the both of them, they both turned and stood behind them was Wet Rick, well, Morty could see where the acid hit, his face was melting, his hair had been burnt off, and the patches of broken skin looked painful, good shot. 

 

Wet Rick had a laser gun pointing directly at Rick, the sneer was full of poison and hatred. 

 

“Oh come on, are you for real?”

 

“Yes, all I want is you Rick, we don’t need to make it difficult. Just let it happen.” 

 

The way he said that Morty then realised, this wasn’t some random Rick from his dream, it was Ghost Morty, and just to prove that Wet Rick disappeared, leaving Ghost Morty in his place, only he wasn’t transparent like Ghost Rick had been, and the acid had certainly worked on him too, patches that looked incredibly painful. 

 

“Rick, I just want you to hear me out. You won’t say no to what I have to offer, all I need is Morty dead, you won’t even know the difference.” 

 

“Noooo not at all, scarface Morty would be very easy to explain to Beth and Jerry.” 

 

“Rick? Do-don’t.” 

 

Morty was sure that if Rick continued teasing Ghost Morty he wouldn’t hold back on shooting him, Ghost Morty seemed to laugh, and since he was inside Morty’s head, he too knew exactly what was going on in the boys head, they may have had slight differences, but he knew everything now. 

 

“I know how much it would destroy you if I did Morty. Heck, if I shot Rick and killed him now, that would be a change in purpose for his chair, would you just cry in it then? Or would you still be able to masturbate? Or maybe both.” 

 

Ghost Morty laughed at his own words, but there was no reaction from Rick, and Morty only blushed, if he didn’t realise there was something weird going on in Morty’s head already, he damn would now. 

 

“I think you need to take your head out your ass Morty. And shoot. I don’t wan-want to hear your offer.” 

 

“Oh Rick, you do.” 

 

“Not interested.” 

 

“You will be interested.” 

 

“Not… Interested.” 

 

“Rick, stop fighting against it, you want to know.” 

 

“Nope. I don’t.” 

 

Ghost Morty started to talk about a few things that his offer was based around, Rick of course ignored him and held tighter onto Morty who was still leaning against him. 

 

“Do.. not.. Let.. go.” 

 

Rick whispered to him, Morty glanced up for a moment, once again confused, he then figured out what Rick was talking about, Rick’s left arm was behind his back, and when Morty looked he could see the metal rope, it was wrapped around Rick’s wrist, and the other end of it was embedded into the floor, and it looked like it wasn’t going anywhere, and that was when Morty realised just what Rick was going to do, Morty’s arms went around Rick’s waist, and Ghost Morty seemed to realise then, it had taken him as long as what Morty had been to figure it out, and when Rick saw that Ghost Morty knew, he let go of Morty with his right hand, pulling out the device from his inside pocket, he pressed the button and threw it to Ghost Morty’s feet, it all happened too quickly, as soon as Rick had thrown it, he grabbed onto Morty, Ghost Morty had fired the laser gun, and Rick had knocked them both onto the ground, landing over Morty to protect him, the laser had caught Rick on his shoulder, and Morty could tell by his face that he was in pain, but there was nothing he could say, the air around them had changed, they were being pulled towards the ‘black hole that was now opening in the ground, Ghost Morty had not had a moment to move, he screamed in pain and the ‘black hole’ dragged him inside.. Quick, easy and hopefully painfully, but now, they needed to wait, they had to wait until the timer had finished. 

 

And Morty could feel himself slipping from Rick. 

 

“Don’t you.. Dare.” 

 

Rick said from above him, his grip was not as strong as it had been, and Morty assumed it was because he was in pain, and Morty couldn’t see himself being able to hold on for much longer, no matter how determined he was to stay alive, he could tell he was causing Rick more pain, but he couldn’t tighten his grip around him. 

 

“Rick, I can’t h-hold on, I can’t..” 

 

Before Rick could even respond, Morty let go, closing his eyes, even the way Rick was holding him, he couldn’t stop the force from dragging him towards it, that was when the bleeping sound of the timer started to go off, and Morty opened his eyes, he could hear Rick behind shouting for him as he got closer, there was nothing he could grab onto that would delay him from his fate, this was going to be the end for sure… this was going to be the third time he died, and it was going to be the last, there would be no way of surviving this, even if there was a chance of surviving, Ghost Morty would be in there with him, he would probably try and kill him there just for the sake of it. 

 

“Morty, now that Ghost Morty has gone, you can take over, you have control.” 

 

It was Ghost Rick, Morty still had his eyes tightly shut, and when he heard his voice he knew immediately he was using the device to talk to him., but Morty had no idea how to, and the fear that was rising within him, made it worse, he was freezing up. 

 

“Morty, you’re scared, I know, so I’ve got an idea, a way to redeem myself. Reach your hand out, and open your eyes.”   
  


Morty shook his head, he could still feeling himself being pulled closer to the centre, and he could still hear the bleeping, but there was something else. 

 

“Morty, after three.” 

 

Ghost Rick began. 

 

“One..” 

 

Morty closed his eyes tighter together. 

 

“Two…”

 

Morty mentally prepared himself. 

 

“Three, Now Morty.” 

 

Morty did as he was told, first he reached out, and just as he felt some form of contact he opened his eyes, taking a hold of Ghost Rick’s hand, Ghost Rick pulled him hard from off the floor. 

 

“I only ever wanted you safe.”

 

After he’d said it, he let go of Morty and he took his place, he let the device take him, and as soon as it had done the timer had run out and the device closed up, how the hell did that happen? Where did Ghost Rick come from? Why the hell did he let himself get dragged in like that? Making his way over to it, he picked it up from off the floor, staring at it for a moment, it was like a weight had already been lifted, and when he turned back everything changed around them, this time it really was paradise, the same beach, the same skies and the same sun, only thing different was it was just him and his Rick, who was slowly getting up from the floor. 

 

“This… is going to sting.” 

 

Morty heard him mutter, making his way over to him he gave him the device. 

 

“Do you know why he did it?” 

 

“He wanted to be with his Morty. They are already dead, so they’ll just live there eternally… Oh Fuck, with my goddamn fortune.”

 

Rick said finally realising that the blagh rock was still in there with them both. 

 

“Rick, there’s things I don’t understand..” 

 

“You’ve only just re-realised that huh?” 

 

“No I mean…” 

 

“Morty, can you first, wake the fuck up so I can fix myself, I don’t want to hang around in your mind longer than I need to.. We will talk later yeah? If you answer some of my questions, I’ll answers yours, agreed?”

 

Morty frowned at the request, but he soon nodded his head in agreement, whatever it was Rick seemed to be just as curious as he was, or was that just the way Morty was picking it up? Or maybe.. Oh shit.. Was this about him masturbating in his chair? 

 

“Uh… sure Rick, whatever you need.” 

 

Morty would just have to wait and find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued... ^^ 
> 
> Wrote this chapter whilst at work, It took a bit longer and a bit more time with this chapter because there was so much detail I wanted to try and add to it, and there will be more to come. 
> 
> Thank you all for your patience. <3


	14. Calm Down

It became a bit of a shock to Morty when he opened his eyes to find that there was still a wound on Rick’s shoulder, he should have known since Rick had already informed him that if he died in a dream then he would really be dead, so for him to still have a wound, must’ve been the same principle, unless it was just a stain leftover from the wound within the dream, which would mean Rick was okay and had healed pretty quickly… That was until he heard Rick grunt in pain, okay so maybe he was still wounded, yeah that took that thought away from him almost instantly, there was no way he would get over everything that had just happened in his mind, mostly because that was where it had all happened, and now that he was awake, he couldn’t help but feel slightly violated, and maybe even a little awkward with Rick, there had been so much in his mind that even Morty himself couldn’t even begin to explain, and at the end of it all, he kind of wished it had been one of his nightmares that had been part of the blame for how he had been feeling, that would’ve been easier to deal with after, because at least Rick already knew that they were about killing him, this dream had been on another level completely. 

 

Rick had stood to his feet without saying a word, a few more pained groans and he headed over to the door, grasping the handle he opened it up and then turned back to Morty who had watched his every movement. 

 

“Come help me with this Morty.” 

 

Rick said, to which Morty frowned for a second until he understood what he wanted helped with, well duh Morty.. Standing from the bed he took the device out and carried it with him, there was no way just yet of him telling the time, so he just assumed it was still before midnight since his parents were not back, unless they were just on a late one. 

 

“Close the door behind you.” 

 

Rick said as he walked over to his desk, Morty stepped into the garage and pulled the door closed behind him, and he felt his heart stop, of course it hadn’t but he didn’t know how else to explain the feeling.

 

“Now come here.” 

 

Rick said, he was shrugging off the lab coat, letting it fall over the back of his chair, and he struggled to get his shirt off, but he managed it after a slow battle with himself, he allowed that to drop over the chair too, and when Morty reached him he was holding something in his hand, he grabbed Morty’s wrist and held it there for a moment, now looking into Morty’s eyes, who in return did the same.

 

“Press this here..” 

 

Rick said pointing at the green button, which to Morty looked more like a trigger than a button. 

 

“Run it along the wound Morty, and it needs to be done slowly.” 

 

Morty nodded his head in understanding and Rick let go of his wrist, replacing the dream ear piece in Morty's hand with the new device, Rick sat himself down on the chair, his legs either side of the back of it, using the back to lean his chest on, he dropped the ear pieces onto the desk and then held onto the seat of the chair.

 

“I.. is this going to hurt…?” 

 

Rick went to wave his hand in the air, dismissing him, but the sudden movement caused him to flinch in pain, he then relaxed himself and Morty could see he was holding back with just how painful it was. 

 

“Look Morty, it’s going to be more painful the longer you leave it, but yes, it will hurt.” 

 

Morty found it best not to ask anything else, and when Rick leant his forehead on the chairs back, Morty stepped closer, his eyes were firstly on the machine in his hand, it was similar to a mobile phone, except the bottom of it had an opening, now Morty was concentrating on the wound itself, it looked sore from what he could see, the impact zone were visible and the skin around it was burnt and very fragile looking, some of it even looked burnt to a crisp, it was obviously dead skin, so Morty placed the device just underneath, he assumed it didn’t matter which way he went with it as long as he went over the wound, he pressed the button and felt Rick go rigid underneath his touch, and from the sound that came from him he could tell he was holding back a pained cry.. Morty slowly dragged it over the wound and when he reached the other side of it, he pulled it away and Rick relaxed, it proved just what it did since now the wound itself had been closed up and cleaned, there was only a small scar… that was awesome. 

 

“It’s nothing compared to what the hospital achieve with you Morty, but it will do.” 

 

“Why didn’t you ju-just go there?” 

 

“I wasn’t dying Morty, I didn’t need to.”

 

“Uh.. Rick? Can we.. can we talk now?” 

 

Rick was pulling his shirt back on, it was healed fully and the pain seemed to have gone since he had no problem tugging it over his head, tucking himself in he grabbed the lab coat and shrugged that over himself, before he turned in the chair, his eyes were on Morty now, he grabbed the medical device from Morty and reached back to put it on the table. 

 

“You know when I say later Morty, it actually does mean later on, like when you’ve had a proper sleep without me in your head..” 

 

Rick said and Morty fidgeted on the spot. 

 

“I don’t think I can get back to sleep just yet..” 

 

Rick stared at him for a moment, and then sighed, defeated by his grandson once again.. Standing from the chair, he rolled it towards Morty and leant himself against the desk, he then nodded towards the chair, offering Morty to sit down. 

 

“Hey, you’re the one who enjoys the chair more than I do.” 

 

When Rick said it, Morty’s eyes widened slightly, and then he looked down, he didn’t want him to see him blushing at that, so he sat himself down instead and turned so that he could lean on the desk. 

 

“Rick, how did he get into my head? Wa-was he the reason my dreams were so…” 

 

Morty was at a loss, he couldn’t exactly think of a way to describe them, but then again he didn’t need to explain them because Rick had been there to live it with him. 

 

“Why they were so messed up?” 

 

Rick finished off for him, and he was right, they were messed up, more so than what they had been, if they had of been private and his own, then maybe he would’ve been able to enjoy them. 

 

“Yeah.”

 

“The same way Ghost Rick said he did, through the device in your head, only Ghost Morty took it further and used the device itself to ride your brain activity, since it was so similar to his own he had more of an advantage, more so than what Ghost Rick would’ve done, as for the dreams, they were part you, part him… he was trying to distract you.”

 

“Is he going to be able to do it again?” 

 

Rick shook his head and pulled the ‘black hole’ device from out of his inside pocket. 

 

“Nope, only way out is if I extract ‘em, and I’d rather not after all that.” 

 

“What if..?” 

 

“Morty, he’s not getting out. They are both trapped, so stop thinking about it.” 

 

Jumping up to sit on the desk, Rick kicked his feet out, his eyes were still on Morty, waiting for whatever he need to ask him, but then just before Morty was going to ask him something he jumped back down and headed for the door, opening it he left the garage and disappeared for a short while, and Morty went to get up and follow, but as soon as his head had decided to do that, Rick was back, and the bottle of scotch from Morty’s room was in his hands, he didn’t exactly say anything to Morty, he just raised his brows and shook his head, he shut the door behind him and headed back to the desk, sitting himself back upon it, he pulled out the flask and started to fill it up with the scotch. 

 

“Continue..” 

 

“Rick, were you… did you.. I mean.. Ho-h-how long before…”

 

“How long before I got there?”

 

Morty nodded. 

 

“Not long after you…” 

 

Taking a big sip of his scotch he sighed in relief and then carried on.

 

“I caught that beach Rick at the hut when he was uurrrppp… getting more drinks, when I say I caught him, I mean I became him, another upgrade I’ve been working on.. Only works in other people's dreams, I took his place which meant I was able to hide from the enemy without him even noticing, which was why I had the advantage with the acid… the other advantage I was able to gain knowledge from that Rick.. more importantly where Ghost Morty was.” 

 

“Oh right, that makes sense.. I think.” 

 

“Why? Did you think it was me when he tried to kiss you?”

 

Rick took another sip from his flask without a second glance, just saying it like it was nothing, and Morty looked at him with shock in his eyes, and his blushing was unbearable, he’d felt himself heat up and he shook his head. 

 

“No..No w-wh-why would I..”

 

“Relax Morty, none of us have control over our dreams, we’ve all had some weird shit happen in our dreams at some point in our lives that we’d never speak of to another, I just happen to know what it was in yours.. But no Morty, it wasn’t me. I know one thing though Morty, for a dream me, he was pretty damn upset about it, could of let him down lightly..” 

 

Rick joked with a grin, he was taking another sip and Morty stood up from the chair, he felt the anger rush through him, and it was pretty damn intense. 

 

“This isn’t a joke Rick.. do you know how embarrassed I am by it all, not only did I have this messed up dream for the first time myself, but you… you had to be there di-didn’t you? How can you joke about it?” 

 

“Woah Morty calm down.” 

 

“No Rick, I won’t… H-how the fuck am I supposed to control it? Especially with how I’ve been feeling recently Rick.. I’ve gone from crying over nearly everything in my life, to hating myself, to hating the things I’ve done, to needing you more than I’d ever have known I would.. My feelings are out of control, I am sick in the head, I like you in ways I shouldn’t like you… and jeeze Rick, I hate myself more for that than anything I’ve ever done because of it being not just a dream. So no.. I will.. not.. calm down…” 

 

Why was it whenever they were going to talk about something they always ended up arguing, or at least one of them shouting at the other? And for once, Rick wasn’t fighting him back, he’d actually gone really quiet, even his flask was still and resting on his thigh, and the more quiet he remained the more Morty regretted everything he had just said. 

 

Until Rick broke it. 

 

“Look Morty, you’re going to have to just g-get over it, i’ve not been in any of your lives for a very long time, so whatever it is you’re feeling is only because of never really knowing me, and me suddenly being in your life has an impact Morty, and that impact is something you can’t explain, so you replace everything you can’t explain with something you can, instead of it being a family thing, you’ve made it something else, but you’re confusing it with how you’d like someone like Jessica… So yeah, Morty, My bad.. That’s something else you can blame on me, it’ll soon pass.” 

 

Rick didn’t even look at Morty when he spoke, all Morty did was glare, so now he was being told how and why he was like this? 

 

“You know what Rick? Fu-f-fuck you.”

 

“And fuck you too Morty. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to forget about this conversation happening, and I’ve not nearly had enough of this scotch to get to that point yet.”

 

Jumping down off the counter Rick stepped past Morty keeping his back to him he took some more gulps of his drink. 

 

“You didn’t ask me anything Rick. You said you had questions?”

 

Morty pointed out. 

 

“Morty, you’ve pretty much answered mine. So lea-urrrp-leave it at that.” 

 

“Dick.” 

 

Morty said, without another word Morty made his way for the door, opening it up he slammed it shut as hard as he could, and once again, he was fighting back tears, oh this better hadn’t start happening again, he couldn’t exactly go back in now he’d just left the finisher with slamming the door. 

 

“Hey sweetie.” 

 

Beth said as both her and Jerry stood in the hallway, Morty walked straight past them both and headed up the stairs. 

 

“G’night.” 

 

He mumbled and as soon as he stepped into his bedroom he slammed that door too. 

 

Dropping himself onto his bed he let himself cry, he hated it, he hated that he’d just admitted himself to Rick, he hated how alone he felt, and in fact he felt even more alone, he didn’t even have Ghost Rick, but at least he knew, the longer he cried, the easier he fell asleep, he had been used to crying himself to sleep when he was younger, so what difference did it make now, it should work.. dragging his pillow down the bed he wrapped his arms around it. 

 

When would all of this be over? 

 

That was when something popped into his head, maybe there was a way to fix it… but he would need to wait until Rick was wasted enough to not even notice him stealing the portal gun.. 

 

Early morning would be his best chance, but for now, he would try and sleep.. snuggling his face into the pillow he let out a sigh.

 

Morty would go to the council of Ricks. 

 

They would hopefully know what to do with him.


	15. I'm Sorry

No matter how many times Morty tried to fall asleep in the night, he couldn’t.. It had been nearly impossible, and every single time he opened his eyes he found himself falling deeper and deeper into his thoughts, he was in fact mortified and he was unsure if he was going to be able to get over it even if he went to the council of Ricks and spoke to them.. But then when he started to think about that, it made him nervous, he remembered the last time he’d met them and how ‘well’ it seemed to go.

 

Stop it. 

 

He needed badly to try and get out of the habit of making a choice and then changing his mind just because he was nervous, and anyway, the worse of this plan was going to be getting the portal gun and actually being able to use it properly, he had no idea exactly where the Citadel was, so that itself was going to be a learning curve for him, and he hoped to whatever god there was that the battery would last, he didn’t fancy finding his way around on some space bus. 

 

“Ah Jeeze.” 

 

Morty mumbled, he flipped himself over onto his other side, his back was facing the wall. He opened his eyes and looked towards the clock on the nightstand, it was only three in the morning and it felt like he’d been lying here for five or more hours, it was dragging and it was driving him crazy, he hated to be alone with his thoughts, they always took over him. Must’ve been just over an hour ago when he heard the rest of the family settling for the night, Summer had been the last. It was like some ritual for her to brush her teeth the very moment she's planning on going to bed,  he had questioned her about it before and she’d told him that it’s because if she does it around seven or eight o’clock, she may want some juice or a snack before bed and then she would have to do it all over again.. And this Summer must’ve been the same in this dimension, maybe they all had their similarities, she wasn’t his Summer, but she was very close to her. 

  
  


Morty’s thoughts must’ve gotten the better of him because when he opened his eyes next the clock read seven in the morning, he closed his eyes for a few more moments before he realised. They widened just as quickly and he threw the sheet from off himself, shooting upright he sat there for a few moments, just listening.. The house was silent, which for this time of morning was strange because usually this would be when Beth would walk in and wake him up.. Jumping to his feet he rushed over to the wardrobe, opening the drawers just beside it, he pulled out fresh underwear and some socks, at the same time he’d done that he had stripped himself letting all his clothes gather in a pile just beside him.. Opening the wardrobe he pulled out some new clothes, the same as normal just fresh, dressed himself as quickly as he could, and left his bedroom.

 

The door clicked shut a little louder than he had wished it to, so he remained where he was for a few seconds, hoping the normally unnoticeable sound had not been noticed by the whole family..

 

Silence. 

 

Creeping his way down the stairs he headed straight for the garage.. The door was still shut, so he used the handle as quietly as he could and pushed the door open, just as quietly, and unfortunately that creaked louder than the click of the handle, and the slower he pushed the door, the louder the creaking got, so with one big movement he pushed the door wide enough for him to pass through and he stepped inside, shutting the door just as quickly and quietly. 

 

As soon as Morty turned he found Rick at the desk, he was sitting in the chair, his head in his arms and a bottle tipped over on the side next to him, he was out at least so this will be a little easier.. Morty was beside Rick in moments, grabbing the bottle he stood it upright rescuing what liquid was left in the bottle and Rick stirred in his sleep.. Morty could hear him mumbling something into his arm, but there was no way he could understand him, he was too quiet. Moving in closer Morty felt down the outside of Rick’s lab coat, feeling a range of things in the inside pockets until he got to the portal gun, would have probably been easier if he had of looked instead. 

 

Pulling it free from Rick’s pocket he moved away from him.. His concentration was now on the portal gun, if he didn’t do anything now with it then he wasn’t going to. 

 

Pointing it in front of him he opened up a portal. Turning back he smiled softly at Rick. This was it. 

 

“Goodbye Rick. I… I.. I’m sorry.” 

 

As he said the words he turned away and stepped through the portal, and of course as he had expected he had no idea where he was.. The view though, the view itself was stunning, he was standing on the edge of a canyon, in fact from where he stood it looked like he was staring down into the Grand Canyon.. Not that he actually knew what it looked like from this angle, he’d only seen pictures of it, but at a guess, this would be it.. Except this canyon had what looked like fruit trees growing within, and they were tall, some of the tops were almost level with where he stood.. And in fact, if he reached out far enough he would be able to pluck something from off the branch as proof.. Which he wasn’t going to do, the last time he went with Rick somewhere to collect something from a tree he’d fallen and broken both his legs. 

 

The sky was dark blue, and a massive aqua planet sat in the sky, just next to it a smaller pink planet with two rings, and a few stars scattered around, so he assumed that it was night, even if it wasn’t dark enough to be.. Sitting himself down on the edge of the canyon his feet dangled, he still held the portal gun in his hand and he zoned out his surroundings, as beautiful as this place was, it was not the Citadel.. Maybe there was a way of drawing some attention to himself? Pointing the portal gun in front of him he open a portal, and continually did so, the battery would run out soon right? There was no way that would go unmissed.. And sure enough a portal formed that Morty had not formed himself and three guard Rick’s appeared, aiming their guns at Morty. 

 

“We detected illogical usage of a portal gun in a very restricted area. Your Rick, where is he?” 

 

Morty got to his feet and let the portal gun drop to the floor, as soon as it did, he stood on it and he stamped hard making sure it broke.. Morty continued to stare at the floor, he then shrugged his shoulders not replying. 

 

One of the guards made his way over to Morty and cuffed him, grabbing the cuffs he dragged him away from the broken portal gun and they all disappeared through the portal.. Morty didn’t need them to say anything to know that he was in trouble, but at least he was heading to the right place now, and that place was straight to the council of Rick’s.. And his heart started pounding harder than it had been before he decided to do any of that.

 

 

“Take a seat, another guard will come and get you when the council is ready for you.” 

 

Morty had been placed inside a small holding room, and the door had been closed behind him, and within the room there were benches all along the walls.. The only light source came from the lighting above his head, it was still pretty dim, but it was enough to see.. And sitting at the back of the room was a Rick, and on the bench to the left just under the windows which looked out into the main hall of the citadel was a Morty.. The Rick kept his head down, but the Morty seemed to light up and smile at the sight of another, so, he made his way over and sat himself on the same bench as the Morty. 

 

“What are you here for?”

 

The Morty asked him. 

 

“I uhm..” 

 

What exactly could he say? What he had purposely got himself dragged here for? Or that he messed around with a portal gun and is apparently without a Rick? The second seemed the better option and all he continued with was.. 

 

“I broke a portal gun..” 

 

“Oh come on you wouldn’t be here just for that.” 

 

The other Morty said with a soft laugh, and Morty just shrugged in response. 

 

“So what are you here for?” 

 

Morty questioned him back and the other Morty held his hands up showing that he didn’t have them cuffed. 

 

“I’m here as s-support..”

 

Leaning himself close to Morty the other Morty whispered as quiet as he could, but loud enough so that he couldn’t be heard. 

 

“I’m not too sure why though because this Rick’s Morty…

 

He paused for a second.

 

“Well, h-he killed himself. And he didn’t take the councils offer for a replacement too well and tried to kill one of them..”

 

“Do you want to know why I tried to kill him?” 

 

The Rick’s voice startled them both and they simultaneously snapped their heads so that they were facing him, panic was over the other Morty’s face, and Morty could hear the pain in the Rick’s voice and that made his heart sink.

 

The Rick looked up and flickered his gaze between the two of them. And not only could he hear the pain but now he could see the pain on the Rick’s face, he looked heartbroken and he’d never seen a Rick like it, the only Rick he even resembled was Ghost Rick. 

 

“When I explained myself, he laughed.. He laughed and called me pathetic, and that a replacement would do me good, I’d become too attached! And you know what… yes. I had, but he was my Morty. He was too young to die. He sho-shouldn’t have died like that.”

 

Lifting his arm he wiped away the tears that were rolling down his face, using his sleeve, and the other Morty stood up, moving himself from the bench he sat down next to the Rick and placed an arm on his shoulder. 

 

And Morty couldn’t help but now feel guilty, had that been how his Rick had felt? Maybe it was on that kind of level, but still, it must have been pretty close, and he did save him more than once.. Is this how it could have gone for Rick? No, maybe not on this level, this Rick had too much emotion, and his Rick, well, he’d only witnessed so much emotion from him that in fact he’d been shocked by it.

 

The door opened and a guard Rick stepped inside, without saying another word he marched across the room and grabbed the Rick hard by the arm, causing the Rick to wrench his arm back, and as soon as he had done that he kicked the guard in the stomach, which had taken him by surprise because he’d knocked him to the floor. 

 

“Fuuuuuck… Me….”

 

The Rick shouted at the top of his lungs, the sadness that had been in his eyes before had been replaced by something else, and Morty couldn’t even pinpoint what it was, it was like a mix of a few emotions.. The most prominent was anger, second in line, came the crazy.. Now Morty had no idea what this Rick and his Morty had been through together, they were from a completely different place to him and his own Rick, and their life could have been ten times harder… They could have been through so much more together. And this was the end result of that, this Rick not only lost his Morty, but he was losing his mind as well.

 

“You… you can’t! If you take me in there I will kill him. I will bite out his jugular.. I don’t want to see that stupid face, I hate it… I hate it. I HATE IT SO MUCH.” 

 

The other Morty had moved himself away from the Rick, in fact he was back at Morty’s side, and as the commotion evolved and the Rick lost himself, more of the guards appeared, in fact, five of them flooded the room.. Three had to grab him and hold him down, another one closed in when they had got him still enough and injected something into the downed Rick’s neck he fell limp almost instantly.. The last guard helped up the guard who had been kicked in the stomach, and took him out of the room. 

 

It all happened really quickly so when it was just himself and the other Morty remaining in the room, silence fell hard over the two of them.. Until the other Morty broke it. 

 

“He has been here a few times a-a-and he’s never been that bad before.” 

 

Turning to look at him Morty raised his brows, and the other Morty shrugged his shoulders in response. The door went again and one of the guard Rick’s had returned. 

 

“The council are ready for you now.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your patience. I am so glad to hear your responses.   
> You are all fantastic. (: <3


	16. Messed Up

 

Morty’s heart was already racing from what he had just witnessed, so there wasn’t much change there when the guard informed him they were ready for him.. Stepping out of the holding room another guard Rick stood outside the door with a guard Morty by his side, and all three guards escorted Morty inside.. And the council were waiting for him. All their eyes followed him along with the other guards who were scattered around. 

 

“What we would like to know is... Why does a Morty think he can steal his Rick’s portal gun and throw up unnecessary portals on a planet he’s never even been to before? More importantly a very restricted one.”

 

Riq IV started off once Morty was standing facing them, the rest of the council of Rick’s were patiently waiting for him to continue, all their eyes were still on Morty and he couldn’t help but shift awkwardly on the spot.

 

“And then.. We found out whose portal gun it was..” 

 

Riq said pointing at the portal gun that was on the desk just in front of him.. Still in a million and one pieces, but it was all there, he guessed anyway.

 

“So now, we want to know why C-137 Morty has run away. Rogues must be in your dimensions bloodline.” 

 

Morty dropped his head and looked at the ground before he spoke.

 

“I.. messed up.” 

 

“Well Morty, that’s nothing new. Is it really? I mean come on.” 

 

Riq said, causing the council to boom with laughter, in fact he’d caused an uproar with the guards who all started chuckling about it, the only guard who didn’t was the Morty, he just folded his arms and went into a sulk.

 

“I need you to replace me.” 

 

Riq frowned. 

 

“Replace you? Do you honestly think we could if we wanted to? We don’t even have the rogues location because he’s hidden himself from us. Only way we could even track him would be with his portal gun.. Oh and guess where that is?” 

 

Riq paused for a moment and then glanced down to the broken portal gun.

 

“Right here with us. He obviously doesn’t want to be disturbed. I’d rather know what hes up to but that’s not the point Morty, C-137 hasn’t asked for a replacement, and as much as it pisses us off that we can’t just go ahead and destroy his life, we have to stick to the council rules.”

 

Well that had gone well already. 

 

“Can’t you..”

 

“Can’t we what? Bend the rules? For a Rick.. maybe.. And the chance even then would be one percent, which is low. So for a Morty, there is no chance, it’s not even a percentage. Your Rick did tell you what your purpose was didn’t he?” 

 

Morty nodded his head, but didn’t say a thing, he was actually looking at Riq now, listening to his words.

 

“Then you understand why. Morty…” 

 

Riq paused for a moment, he seemed to be in deep thought. 

 

“There is another way… We won’t be able to replace you. But we can get other uses out of you.”

 

Now that was starting to sound promising.. If not also pretty creepy. But that meant that there was a way Morty could slip out of Rick’s life, sure, it meant there were other Rick’s involved but the awkwardness, the embarrassment, and the ruining of a life wasn’t there, they wouldn’t know, and if they asked he could always make something up. 

 

“Only if you tell us exactly why you left him.” 

 

Great. He had to think about it didn’t he? They must have been in his head in some way because this was like some form of torture, and they were just trying to make him say it.. He had already fucked up with Rick, he didn’t want to fuck up here in front of over a dozen Rick’s that would be where he’d wish the floor would swallow him up, in fact if that had ever been an option he would have chosen that over everything else.

 

“I.. I don’t w-want to say.” 

 

There goes making something up, now he’d just made it seem as awkward as ever.. Good job Morty. Was there anywhere he couldn’t go without doing something like that? 

 

“Then I’m sorry Morty, you’re going to have to join the rest of the Rickless.” 

 

Riq said and Morty looked panicked, which he noticed straight away because he frowned curiously. 

 

“I can’t believe I’m going to suggest this…” 

 

Riq said shaking his head, and then pinched the bridge of his nose. 

 

“Do you want to whisper it?” 

 

Morty instantly nodded his head. And Riq sighed. 

 

“Riq? Why are you being so lenient? It’s just a Morty, even if it is his Morty.”

 

Rick Prime was the one to question him and he’d grabbed Riq’s arm as he slipped past the back of his chair, he spoke purposely loud enough for Morty to hear him.. Maybe this was a bad idea afterall. 

 

Riq IV glanced up to Morty and then leaned himself into Rick Prime, saying something to him quietly and as hard as Morty tried, he couldn’t hear what he was saying.. He did however notice just how Rick Prime looked at him when Riq had finished. 

 

“Good point.” 

 

Rick Prime said, and Riq carried on, one of the guards accompanied him as he made his way over to Morty, kneeling himself down he waited for Morty to tell him.. And after some hesitation Morty leant himself in, whispering into his ear what he didn’t want to say out loud. He made sure he explained all the trouble he had caused Rick leading up to that, he told him about how he’d nearly died several times, he’d told him about how he’d started to feel, and that he’d told Rick about it.. And even as he was explaining it, he was starting to well up. So when he’d finished, he turned his head away from Riq so that he couldn’t meet his gaze, it was enough having to explain himself.. And even if it was only one of them, he knew that Riq would share it with the rest of the council as soon as he was back up there. 

 

Riq didn’t say anything in response, he just stood himself back up and made his way back to the rest of the council.. Before he’d made it back up Ricktiminus spoke up. 

 

“I have use for him. That is if no one else wishes to clai-claim him?” 

 

The other council members shook their head in response and as Riq got himself back into position he looked straight at Morty. 

 

“Well, his reasonings are fair.  Morty, since there are some violations that you broke, you’ll need to be punished, I’m sure Ricktiminus will come up with something fair. Other than that, you’ll be staying here. Now that the choice has been made you’re unable to return to your Rick, even if you were allowed, we can’t find him, like I said. You can’t go home, or to any of your family members. You’re dismissed. One of the guards will take you to get registered.. We will send the information ahead of you. It will get you processed quicker.” 

 

As soon as Riq had said it, the guard Rick was unlocking the handcuffs and taking them away from him, which gave Morty a moment to gently rub his wrists.. They had not been on tight enough to actually hurt him, but it just felt better.. It was an automatic reaction to them not being there, and in a way it was giving him a moment to think over what Riq had just said to him.. He couldn’t return to any of them… that was it.. 

 

The guard lead him out of the council room and down to registration, where he waited in line with a couple other Morty’s and a few Rick and Morty’s, each of them were in their own conversations with each other.. Morty himself stood silently next to the guard who had taken him there, and Morty assumed that he was going to keep escorting him to wherever he needed to go next.. He honestly couldn’t care less where he was as long as his Rick was safe, Rick could get on with his life, without the mistake there.. The only other thought that worried him was that now Morty had gone, would Rick be in any danger? Morty had been there, as much as he hated to admit it, but he had been there to hide Rick.. but if Rick was able to hide himself from the council, then surely he could come up with something to replace Morty. 

 

Now that did worry him a little, had he really done the right thing leaving him behind? Had going to the council been the best idea he came up with? He could have easily had words with Rick.. well, if he’d have been able to face him that is. No.. No no no, he wasn’t going to keep doubting himself. Morty had done the right thing. 

 

The Morty behind the registration desk only glanced up to him briefly, there was something on the paper just in front of him that Morty assumed was to do with him.. And as he thought about it, that was a little creepy since they’d only just got him here, even so, Riq had said he would send it all ahead of him. So why was he still shocked by it?

 

“You’re C-137 Morty yes?”

 

“I am yes.” 

 

Morty answered. 

 

“It’s void from this moment onwards. You’re now D-D-D-D-X5.. Ugh.. you’re D-X5. Ricktiminus was adamant it be changed.”

 

The Morty’s voice droned, he sounded bored, which Morty himself would be if he was sat behind a desk dealing with countless Morty’s all day. 

 

“That really was quick. I’ve only just got out of there.” 

 

It was mostly to himself, but the Morty behind the desk heard him and shrugged his shoulders as if he’d heard it a thousand and one times before. 

 

“Just the way the c-council works. I’ve been informed you’ll be staying in your own suite. And your uniform will be ready for you when you get there. Ricktiminus will explain the rest I’m sure.” 

 

The desk Morty had finished and he stamped something onto the piece of paper in front of him, he slid it across and now it was in front of Morty.. He took it and the big red stamped lettering read .. D-X5 .. Was it really as simple as that? Sure there was nothing that could physically change where he had come from, but now.. On paper, he had been changed, he wasn’t C-137 anymore, and going by that, he didn’t belong to his Rick anymore, it even stated it on the piece of paper.

 

Morty now… well he belonged to Ricktiminus Sancheziminius one of the council members, and after everything he’d felt in the past few weeks, right now he was at a loss.. He didn’t know exactly how he felt, or if this was right. Maybe he was still in shock? And there was no way he was going to say it was all just a dream.. 

 

Morty was sick to death of dreams. 


	17. Broken Morty

The guard Rick had led Morty through the citadel. It was so full of life, granted it was all Morty’s and Rick’s but still, that was life and there was so much of it, and the amount of times guard Rick had to stop a salesman Rick, or a curious Rick was getting too close to Morty was unreal.. Even a Morty approached him.. There had been no exchange in words because guard Rick would tell them they needed to step back and carry on with what they were doing.. Must’ve been the orders given to any guard who was escorting, whether it be a Rick or a Morty. He was doing a good job, Morty was impressed, and in fact he was glad he was there, he wasn’t feeling chatty right now, so the bonus of the guard not even speaking a word to him was perfect. Even if that meant he was left with his own thoughts again.

 

They had taken two elevators, and three flights of stairs, and Morty assumed this suite was in the highest part of the building very much out of the way of everyone else, which became clear when there were less and less Rick and Morty’s bugging him, all that remained were the odd guard Rick, either stood against a wall, or walking down one of the many halls that he and the guard Rick took, and he felt like it was going on forever.. Now though, he started to realise where he was, each door that he passed had a nametag on it.. Guard Rick had been leading the way so when he’d stopped in front of a door at the end of a hallway Morty caught up and read the tag just next to the door. 

 

Ricktiminus Sancheziminius… 

 

Morty didn’t realise that he would be actually staying in the council members apartment, sure he’d read the piece of paper, and he’d understood that Ricktiminus was now his Rick, but this was just… 

 

“I suggest you stay here until told otherwise. There will be a guard around if you need one.”

 

The guard finally spoke directly to him, and just as he’d finished he opened the door with a code, Morty hadn’t been quick enough to see what the code was so instead ignored it, he stepped through the door which had slid open and as he moved further inside, the door slid shut behind him, the lock turned red and Morty assumed that it was locked.. To confirm it for himself he stepped back to the door and tried to pull it in the direction it had slid open before, there was a clunk and nothing more, the door was locked.. He was trapped inside, and he felt uneasy. 

 

“Good job Morty. Y-y-you’ve done it now.”   
  


Morty said to himself. Moving away from the door he walked into the living area, the fireplace in the middle of the room was surrounded by couches which were white in color, the wallpaper was just as white the furniture and carpet, the only color change was the bits of gold that laced around the pillars.. The fireplace itself was all white, apart from the edges which had gold around it too.

 

It was pretty obvious that this was made for someone who thought highly of themselves, usually the gold was a representation of.. ‘Importance’ other than that it was wealth, but since this was a Rick that Morty was thinking about, importance sounded a little more likely, he’d never known Rick to care much about money. 

 

Stepping closer to the fireplace he followed the marble like effect that he could now see on it, not that he was exactly interested in the design, it just seemed to distract him.. Reaching out he followed the flow of the design with his fingers, it was imperfect, but it was an imperfection that had been created randomly, unique to this fireplace. Okay now he was slightly interested. 

 

“It’s a beautiful fireplace isn’t it?” 

 

Morty nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice, it took him a moment to process just who it was who spoke, but it didn’t take long to realise that it was his mother's voice, or at least.. Just another Beth. 

 

“Are you hungry Morty?” 

 

Morty nodded his head in response and she crossed the room, passing him on his left hand side she went through another door and disappeared, Morty was about to follow, but she returned, with a glass of water in one hand, and in the other a sandwich. Morty was still a little dumbfounded.

 

“Sit.” 

 

Beth said nodding towards the couch, Morty did as she said and he sat down. Beth sat herself down just next to him, passing the plate over she put his drink on the coaster on the floor. Morty this time decided to talk.

 

“Do you live here. Like… p-permanent?” 

 

Beth smiled and then she nodded. 

 

“I don’t have anywhere else to go. This is my only home. I wouldn’t have been able to afford a house even if I wanted to.” 

 

The way she had said it, Morty could tell that it was something she would have wanted, but then curiosity got the better of him, he frowned. 

 

“Why didn’t you and Dad get somewhere?” 

 

Beth looked a little confused when he’d asked it, and Morty could tell that this was going to get complicated. 

 

“Oh. You mean Jerry?”

 

How the hell could she forget about Jerry? 

 

“Morty.. Jerry died not long after Summer was born. It was a hit and run, he died later in the same hospital I had been in. There had been some complications with the birth, so I couldn’t even get out of bed to see him. The day I could, he died.”

 

Beth shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing, and sure, time had passed but still, this wasn’t nothing, to Morty this was his father.. Wait.. 

 

“I was never born? You.. you never had me?”

 

“It was like I could feel it too, I could feel there was something missing in my life, other than Jerry. I grieved for him for so long, but I also grieved for the son I never had as well, and when Dad told me about you, my heart broke. For what reason I don’t know, because how would I have known the difference? I couldn’t have done. Could I? I  was there to help make sure that all the Rickless got home safely… And that’s when I knew it. I needed my son. That’s if you’ll have me, I can’t replace your own mother, but I’ll give you the love you deserve.” 

 

Morty had no idea if he could believe any of it, not in anyway cruel, he just couldn’t believe that his intention on leaving his Rick, and his family ended out in him finding another one.. Of course he should have kept an open mind since he was going to the council, they could have done anything with him, but this… he wasn’t expecting this. 

 

“I lost my mom a long time ago. I had to let her go, the dimension had been destroyed, and we couldn’t stay there. M-m-my life had been a rollercoaster ride. And I needed to leave it behind, i’ve had two homes, and I’ve somehow managed to destroy them both..” 

 

Morty picked at the edge of the sandwich, he then looked her in the eye, and she rubbed his arm gently for comfort. 

 

“I don’t want to destroy a third. I-if you’ll accept a broken Morty.” 

 

Beth smiled softly in response, then she replied. 

 

“I’d be more than happy to. And I’ll do my best to help fix you.” 

 

Morty didn’t know what to say in response, he’d not really expected to have anyone help fix him, his troubles were his own, and it was going to be a slow process to let anyone in to help him with that, they were family by blood, but he still needed to gain their trust, to him they were complete strangers as he was to them. 

 

“Now.. eat.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your patience. I am so sorry for taking so long to update. 
> 
> Work and a few other things got in the way.   
> I will try my best to not take as long with chapters.
> 
> You're all so perfect by the way. Thank you all for sticking with me :D 
> 
> <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read, I hope you've enjoyed, I'm not the best at writing especially with grammar and such things, I'm not a professional writer, I just write what comes to my mind, as most of us do here, and hope for the best. 
> 
> This is the first chapter in the series, I hope to update as much as I can, there will be a lot of dark details, sexual content, incest, and more, if you're not into any of that, or disagree with it, then this is where you should stop reading, if not, and you're just as excited by it as I am, or don't even mind it, then continue and I hope to not disappoint. 
> 
> Enjoy :)


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